KOCHI: The lush green scenery and pristine backwaters made Johnny Paul Pierce, a 74-year-old US national, fall in love with Kerala so deeply that he moved the High Court seeking to convert his visa for allowing him to spend the rest of his days here.
However, there is no place for sentiments in law. Johnny will have no other option but to return to the US. Disposing of Johnny’s petition seeking a directive to convert his tourist visa to a business visa without him leaving the country, Justice C S Dias said while his love for India might be heartening, his plea to stay back cannot be accepted as it was the discretion of the Centre.
TNIE on July 7 had published the story of Pierce who said he wanted to stay back in Kerala as it was one of the safest places in the world in these Covid times. The judge said the court also could not accept the petitioner’s argument which termed irrational the Centre’s insistence on him leaving India after a continuous stay of 180 days here despite holding a tourist visa having a five-year validity.
“The petitioner does not have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution. Therefore, his plea that he may be permitted to stay for another six months and his visa may be converted from tourist visa to business visa without leaving the country cannot be entertained by the court,” the judge observed.
The court said the granting and extension of visas to foreign nationals fell under the domain of the Government of India to ensure sovereignty and national security, which was paramount.Considering the pandemic and non-resumption of international flights, the court directed the Commissioner of Immigration to consider Johhny’s representation and dispose it of as early as possible. The Supreme Court had held that a foreign national does not have the right to reside and settle in India, as enshrined under Article 19(1)(e) of the Constitution.
Suvin R Menon, counsel for the Centre, submitted that the Union Government has decided to extend the visa period of foreign nationals stranded in India on requests made online, until international flight operations from India resume. Johnny said he sees business prospects in Kochi and would desire to continue here. He said over 1 lakh people have died of Covid in the US against around 70 in Kerala. At age 74, he feels safer in Kerala than the US.