The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre to deport 17 foreign nationals detained in the transit camps of Assam, four of whom had been kept for more than two years.

A bench of Justice A.S. Oka and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said since the foreign nationals were not wanted in any cases in India there shouldn’t be difficulty in deporting them to their respective nations.

The court passed the directive after perusal of a report submitted by the Assam Legal Services Authority Committee. On April 30, the bench had asked the committee to give a detailed report on the illegal foreign nationals detained in the Assam camps after being declared as non-citizens by the foreigners’ tribunals.

The court also wanted the committee to examine the conditions and facilities provided to the inmates at the centres. During the hearing on Thursday, the bench also asked the Centre whether it has a concrete policy related to the deportation of such foreign nationals who had entered India and are declared as foreigners by the tribunals.

In a lighter vein, the bench said it would be better if the government deported the foreign nationals so that the funds utilised for their upkeep could be used for deserving Indian citizens.