Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday admitted a contempt of court petition against the Union government for failing to comply with its earlier order directing the return of six migrant workers, including Sunali Khatun, from Bangladesh.
The Centre has been asked to file a statement in response by November 28.
Appearing for the families of the detained migrants, counsel informed the division bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Reetobroto Kumar Mitra that the Centre had moved a Special Leave Petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court challenging the High Court’s order. However, the SLP was found defective as both matters were clubbed under one petition and it lacked proper signatures.
The Centre had approached the apex court on October 22, two days before the High Court’s compliance deadline of October 24 expired.
On September 26, the High Court had quashed the Delhi FRRO’s June 26 deportation order issued against the six individuals, who were picked up from Delhi on June 21.
The bench found procedural lapses in the deportation process and noted that the question of citizenship was still undecided.
It had also criticised the authorities’ “overenthusiasm” in deporting the detainees, observing that such haste “disturbs the judicial climate in the country”.