BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka has directed the additional chief secretary (ACS), Home Department, to issue a circular to all educational institutions, medical institutions, employers, non-government organisations, research centres, cultural bodies, state police, local authorities, intelligence bureaus, DCs and commissioners of police to report any engagement with foreign nationals to the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) in a prescribed format.
The ACS should also direct the institutions and associations to audit and verify existing foreign nationals associated with them and submit periodic status reports to FRRO and state police. The failure to comply with the circular will attract civil, criminal or administrative penalties, the high court stated in its order to the ACS.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the interim order on a petition filed in 2015 by overstaying foreign nationals.
Regarding foreign nationals’ involvement or victims of criminal offences, the court directed the state government to provide a list of such nationals.
The affidavit to be filed by the state government should also specify whether foreign nationals, who have overstayed in the state, have registered with the appropriate local or central authority under the law. It should also have details such as their present residential address, place of employment or engagement, mobile numbers, e-mail IDs, any dependents, and how such data is stored, monitored, and updated and whether it is linked to national immigration databases.
The court directed the Deputy Solicitor General of India to coordinate with the Bureau of Immigration and file an affidavit of a country-wise segregated list of foreign nationals, who have entered India in the past five years and their classification based on the type of visa issued.