NGO seeks schooling for Rohingya kids, SC asks if they’re legal migrants

New Delhi: Supreme Court on Monday sought to know from an NGO, which sought grant of admission to children of Rohingya refugees in Delhi in schools near their place of stay, whether these people from Myanmar were recognised by the govt as legal migrants to entitle their children such a right.Advocate Ashok Agarwal, arguing for NGO ‘Social Jurist', said he had visited Shri Ram Colony in Khajoori Khas area of east Delhi and met several Rohingya refugees, who complained that schools run by MCD and Delhi govt were not granting admission to their children, thus violating their right to education.He said on the NGO's petition, Delhi HC had ordered these schools to admit children of refugees from Afghanistan. However, when the NGO petitioned the HC for admission to children of Rohingya refugees, it was rejected on the ground that "Rohingyas are foreigners who have not been officially and legally granted entry into India". It had asked the NGO to make a representation to the Union govt.On the appeal before the SC, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and N K Singh said the petition appeared to be cleverly drafted. "Once the children are granted admission, the parents would be entitled for legal stay in India. The court does not know whether the Rohingya refugees are staying legally in India," the bench said.It asked the petitioner to provide in two weeks details of Rohingya refugees, their place of stay and proof thereof and whether their stay was legal in India.