MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday kept in abeyance until November 2 a notice issued by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) directing actor Imran Khan, a US citizen, to leave India by October 28.
A bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna deferred the hearing on Khan’s petition challenging the notice after Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh assured the court that no action would be taken against the actor in the meantime.
Khan’s counsel, Venkatesh Dhond, had pointed out that the notice required the actor to leave the country by October 28 and sought an assurance that no coercive steps would be taken before the next hearing.
The FRRO issued the notice after Khan attended a protest in solidarity with the agitation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The matter was scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, but Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the FRRO, sought additional time.
Accepting the request, the court adjourned the matter to November 2 and ordered that the impugned notice remain in abeyance until then.
The 43-year-old actor, who had been briefly detained during a demonstration here related to the protests seeking Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, claimed in his High Court petition that he had not participated in any gathering and had no association with the organisers of the protests.
While he moved the HC on October 17, Khan also received a show-cause notice from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office, seeking a clarification as to why his OCI status should not be revoked.
In his petition, the actor said the notice issued by the Mumbai police was "illegal, arbitrary, perverse and drastic".
The petition, filed through advocate Zulfikar Memon and MZM Legal, said the police notice "reflects patent non-application of mind and the arbitrary targeting" of Khan as a public figure.
Khan sought quashing of the notice, and also requested the court to grant a stay to its operation during the pendency of his petition and restrain the authorities from taking any coercive steps against him.
"Not only is the notice manifestly disproportionate, if implemented, it would reduce the very principles of natural justice that the authorities are duty-bound to uphold, to nothing but a dead letter," the petition said.
The actor claimed that he had no association, affiliation or connection whatsoever with any organisation or institution involved in organising the protest against the Chief Election Commissioner.
Khan was briefly detained during the protest at Mumbai's historic August Kranti Maidan on October 10, organised in solidarity with the protests by the Cockroach Janta Party in Delhi demanding the resignation of CEC Kumar over the SIR issue.
According to FRRO, Khan was served the departure order after authorities invoked provisions under Section 7 (2)(C) and Section 29 of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, which grant powers to the Government to restrict the movement of foreign nationals and enforce their mandatory removal.
Under Section 7 (2)(C), the government has the authority to issue directions prohibiting, regulating or restricting the presence of any foreigner, specifically empowering officials to order that an individual "shall not remain in India or in any specified area therein."
Section 29 permits the government to direct the removal of a foreign national for contravening any provisions, rules, or orders of the Act, or pursuant to an adverse security report.
Khan, nephew of Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan, who has starred in several Hindi films, was directed to leave the country on or before October 28, failing which deportation procedures under Section 29 may be initiated.