Delhi HC refuses to direct Centre on plea for rehabilitation package to Pakistani migrants

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to direct the Centre to provide a comprehensive rehabilitation package for Pakistan migrants, who had obtained citizenship under the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019.

A bench of acting Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela said it was a policy matter of the government and asked the Centre to decide the petitioner's representation instead.

Petitioner Akhil Bhartiya Dharma Prasar Samiti said there were a sizeable number of Pakistani migrants, who had obtained citizenship pursuant to the Act. The migrants were in need of comprehensive resettlement measures to enable them to live with dignity in India, the plea said. Some of them, it said, lived in deplorable conditions, prompting an urgent need to provide them with the rehabilitation measures towards shelter, access to healthcare, education, water, electricity and sanitation.

The Bench said the rehabilitation package and the extent of its requirement was “purely a matter of policy”.

The petitioner was said to have already made a representation to the authorities for considering the rehabilitation package to such persons.

“In view of the above, we consider it apposite to dispose of the petition by directing the respondents to consider the representation and take an informed decision,” the Bench said. The court said the prayer would be evaluated and examined on the basis of different parameters by the respondents.