The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has directed the Central government to consider the representation made by a Tamil repatriate from Sri Lanka seeking a direction to authorities to grant him and his family members Indian citizenship.
The court was hearing the petition filed by R. Thiyagavijayan, who is living in the Sri Lankan Tamils Rehabilitation Camp at Kottapattu in Tiruchi.
The petitioner said he was tagged as a Sri Lankan refugee. But, he was a repatriate from Sri Lanka, to be conferred Indian citizenship owing to the India–Sri Lanka Agreements of 1964 and 1974.
He said he was born in Sri Lanka to an Indian origin Tamil family. His forefathers had migrated from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka during the British era to work in tea plantations.
Based on a one-way passport with a valid Indian visa, he reached Rameswaram in 1983, and was received by the Indian officials. He produced all documents proving that he was a repatriate, he said.
