The Bombay High Court today granted temporary relief to Actor Imran Khan in his plea challenging the ‘Leave India’ notice by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO). The court kept the FRRO order on hold and adjourned the matter till November 2.
“Matter stands over to November 2 at 3 pm. The order under challenge shall be kept in abeyance till the next date,” the bench of Chief Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Advait Sethna observed.
Appearing for the Centre, the Additional Solicitor General assured that no action will be taken against Khan. “The court may keep it on Monday. Nothing will happen. That is an oral assurance,” he said.
When Senior Advocate Venkatesh Dhond raised a preliminary objection to the intervention application, the court said, “This is a civil consequence. We do not see a criminality attached to this.” The court further observed that it could send the matter ot the registry to verify if ASG had any objections to it.
To recall, Khan had moved the Bombay High Court on October 17, seeking to quash FRRO’s “Leave India” notice on October 14. The FRRO notice actually required Khan to leave India by October 28. Khan had argued that the FRRO notice bypassed Section 7D of the Citizenship Act, which makes it mandatory to grant a hearing to a person before revoking their OCI status.
(With inputs from ANI)
