Wednesday, May 18 2005 17:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Centre today (May 18, 2005) got a flak from the Delhi High Court, which dismissed its application seeking to modify its action plan for the deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants saying it was a tactic to delay the whole process.

Terming as "absurd" the proposal to place a revised action plan after consultation with the Bangladesh Government, a Bench comprising Chief Justice B C Patel and Justice S K Kaul said, "The authorities under the guise to modify the action plan was delaying the whole process of deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants".

Taking strong exception on the Centre's stand, the Bench directed the concerned authorities to urgently take all steps for the implementation of the action plan of 2002 by which 100 illegal Bangladeshi migrants have to be identified everyday.

The action plan was formulated on the direction of the High Court, which has been monitoring the steps taken by various authorities since 2001 on the issue of identification and deportation of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

The PIL filed by advocate Chetan Dutt had contended that illegal stay of Bangladeshis was not only causing serious law and order problems in the national capital and bordering districts, but has created extra burden on the civic facilities and rightful citizens were deprived of the facilities.

The court asked the Delhi Police to file the status report on the issue and posted the matter for further hearing on July 14.