HC refuses to extend US Citizen's stay who 'Felt Safer in India' amid Pandemic

On Thursday, the High Court of Kerala refused to grant the extension for the stay of a 74-year-old US citizen, Johnny Paul Pierce, who had earlier said that he felt safer to remain in India than in the US amid the Coronavirus pandemic.

The single-Judge Bench of Justice CS Dias, which considered the writ petition, observed that the grant or extension of visa to foreign nationals fall exclusively within the domain of the Indian Government of India & that judicial review in such matters is minimal.

The power of the Indian Government to expel foreigners is absolute & unlimited, the bench said.

The Order said that "In view of the categoric declaration of law by the Supreme Court, the plea of the petitioner to permit him to stay back in India cannot be accepted, as it falls within the purview of the guidelines & the discretion of the Government of India".

"The petitioner cannot be heard that the guidelines/policies/regulations formulated by the Government of India, that an American national though has been granted a visa having validity of five years has to leave India within 180 days, is irrational or unreasonable," it added.

The HC, which was hearing a petition to permit the US citizen to stay in India for a further period of 6 months, said that the petitioner doesn't have a case that there is an infraction of Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

"The petitioner was well aware of the visa conditions when he arrived in India, & it is too late in the day for him to raise a grievance on the visa conditions," the bench said noting that the petitioner's love for India was heartening.

The HC also directed the Foreigners Registration Officer to consider the petitioner's representation within a period of 2 weeks in accordance with the applicable guidelines & policies. 

Source LInk