[Reader-list] News Items posted on the net on Multipurpose National Identity Cards-56

[Taha Mehmood]

http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=286650


SC LD BANGLADESHIS*PRINT*<http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_print.asp?id=286650>
   *EMAIL* <http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_email.asp?id=286650>SC asks for
steps taken on Assam report on B'deshis

NEW DELHI, MAR 17 (PTI)

Concerned over largescale illegal migration from Bangladesh to India, the
Supreme Court today asked the Union Government to state within two weeks the
steps taken by it on a report of the Assam Governor in 1998 presenting a
grim picture of the demographic change by the influx of migrants.

A Bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti, Justice G P Mathur and Justice
P K Balasubramanyan, hearing a batch of petitions on this issue, also asked
the Centre whether it had taken any decision on extending the Illegal
Migrants Determination through Tribunal (IMDT) Act to states other than
Assam.

Additional Solicitor General Amarendra Saran said that the Centre as well as
the Assam Government were not in favour of repeal of the Act, constitutional
validity of which was challenged by few petitioners, including Sarbanadna
Sonawal.

The Bench also asked the Centre whether it has taken any step in the
direction of preparation of a National Register of Indian Citizens and
issuance of Multi-purpose National Identity cards (MNIC) to stop illegal
migration into the country. It posted the matter for further hearing on
March 30.

The then Governor, Lt Gen S K Sinha, had in a hard-hitting report, expressed
serious concern over largescale illegal Bangladeshi migration into Assam and
had said that it was changing the demography of the region at an alarming
rate.

The problem of illegal Bangladeshi migrants was first brought to the Court's
notice by a PIL filed by the All India Lawyers Forum for Civil Liberties
through counsel O P Saxena who had alleged that apart from the demographic
change, they were causing a serious security threat to the country.