Supreme Court Orders Surprise Inspections Of Assam's Matia Transit Camp To Assess Hygiene And Living Conditions

The Supreme Court on Friday (October 4) directed the Assam State Legal Services Authority (SLSA) to conduct surprise inspections of the Matia Transit Camp for housing foreign nationals in Goalpara, Assam to assess the facility's hygiene conditions, availability of food, and overall living conditions.

A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih ordered the SLSA Secretary to nominate appropriate officers who will carry out periodic inspections at the camp without giving prior notice to the authorities to verify the state's claims made in a compliance affidavit regarding improvements at the facility.

The Court ordered, “We direct the Secretary of the Assam State Legal Services Authority to cause inspection to be made of the facilities in the Transit Camp for the purposes of verifying whether the claim made by the State Government in the affidavit of Shri Ranadip Dam, Joint Secretary, General Administration Department, Government of Assam, is correct. The Secretary of the Assam State Legal Services Authority shall nominate appropriate officers to make periodical visits to the Transit Camp without prior notice to the concerned Authorities for the purposes of verifying the cleanliness, hygiene, quality of food, etc. in the Transit Camp.”

The Court sought a report detailing the findings of these inspections within one month. The case is scheduled for its next hearing on November 4, 2024.

The Supreme Court in July had flagged the “sorry state of affairs” at the Matia Transit Camp. At that time, the Court had noted the lack of adequate water supply, poor sanitation systems, and insufficient toilet facilities at the camp, following a report submitted by the Assam Legal Services Authority. The Court had expressed concern over the deplorable conditions under which declared foreigners were being held.

Last month, the Court also addressed the issue of deporting the 211 foreign nationals detained at the camp, out of which 66 are from Bangladesh.

The Court had directed Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Assam Government to respond on how they planned to deport these foreign nationals.

Today, the Court noted that while Assam has filed an affidavit in this regard, the Union of India hasn't. Therefore, the Court granted time till October 25 for Union of India to file an affidavit.

Case no. – Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 234/2020

Case Title – Rajubala Das v. Union of India and Anr.

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