Detention centres set up in compliance with law, in cognizance of SC

New Delhi: Detention centres were set up in different parts of the country in full compliance with law and with the Supreme Court's cognizance, sources said on Thursday.

Detention centres or holding centres or camps are confinement centres where foreign nationals are confined pending nationality verification and issuance of travel documents by the governments concerned and their deportation to their native countries.

Such detention centres were in existence in various states for the last few decades and the setting up of such centres was not at all connected with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the sources said.

The Foreigners Act, 1946, empowers the Centre to issue orders imposing restrictions on the movements of a foreigner and requiring the person to reside at a particular place.

Further, under the Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920, the Centre can direct removal of any person from India, who had entered the country without a valid passport or other travel documents.

These powers of the Centre have been entrusted with the state governments under Article 258(1) of the Constitution and the Union Territory administrations have also been directed under Article 239 to execute these powers.

With agency inputs