The petition is expected to be listed for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and R. Suresh Kumar. Filing an affidavit on behalf of the party, its Press Relations secretary T.K.S. Elangovan said, hundreds of Indian nationals had lost their jobs in foreign countries and were stranded over there due to the lockdown to fight COVID
DMK moves High Court to bring back Tamils stranded in foreign countries
Legal CorrespondentCHENNAI 06 JUNE 2020 15:04 ISTUPDATED: 06 JUNE 2020 15:04 IST
The petition said many people from Tamil Nadu were suffering without food and medical treatment in foreign countries, and many mortalities had also been reported
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has filed a public interest litigation petition in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the State government to accord necessary clearances for landing of aircraft, so that Indians stranded in foreign countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, could be brought back and sent to their native towns after quarantine.
The petition is expected to be listed for hearing before a Division Bench of Justices Vineet Kothari and R. Suresh Kumar. Filing an affidavit on behalf of the party, its Press Relations secretary T.K.S. Elangovan said, hundreds of Indian nationals had lost their jobs in foreign countries and were stranded over there due to the lockdown to fight COVID-19.Advertising
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They were suffering without food, medical treatment and many mortalities had also been reported, the party claimed. It also stated that its Members of Parliament had made repeated requests to the Centre to bring back Indians, particularly Tamils, stranded in Malaysia, Singapore, Qatar, Dubai, Australia, New Zealand, UK, US, Japan, Africa and other countries.
“The petitioner party has been receiving many phone calls, voice and visual messages through WhatsApp, e-mail and letters from the stranded Tamil people with requests to make appropriate arrangements to bring them back to our nation… But the State government totally prohibited air travel service which is totally unconstitutional,” the affidavit read.
Pointing out that the subject of civil aviation falls within the purview of the Centre which had, on May 5, permitted air travel and had also begun taking steps to fly back Indians stranded in foreign countries, the party said, in such circumstances, it was completely irresponsible on the part of the State government to prevent such travel.
An individual advocate, A. Raja Mohamed, too has filed a similar PIL petition with a plea to bring back Tamils stranded in the Middle East.
