Kuala Lumpur: In a major relief to Indian expatriates, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has directed Indian missions worldwide to expedite the repatriation process of deceased Indian citizens. The move comes after a sustained nine-month legal battle led by Malaysian Indian expatriate Athmesan Pachat, President of the JMK Indian Community and a member of the Loka Kerala Sabha, which works for the welfare of expatriates under the Kerala state government.

Athmesan had approached the External Affairs Minister alleging that Indian expatriates were facing significant delays in obtaining the mandatory No Objection Certificate (NOC) for repatriating human remains. He filed a petition highlighting the inconsistent timelines followed by different Indian missions abroad.

In July last year, Athmesan had sought information from Indian missions across the world under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The Ministry of External Affairs was asked to implement a unified timeline on this issue by compiling the responses to appeals filed after many embassies did not provide clear information and the information in the first response received from more than a hundred Missions around the world. After death, even after obtaining certificates from local agencies like the hospital, police and immigration, the documents for repatriating the body can be obtained from the Indian Embassy in Singapore in just thirty minutes, while in Uzbekistan the same document takes three hours. While in Senegal and Paraguay it takes one to two days, in Lebanon a no-objection certificate takes eight to ten days, Mr. Athmesan pointed out in RTI replies.

Citing these discrepancies, Athmesan submitted a copy of the Delhi High Court's judgment in a case, which emphasized that the location of an NRI should not hinder timely repatriation. With the Non-Resident Keralites Affairs (NORKA) and appeals to the President and Prime Minister of India, the MEA responded to him.

The MEA has now issued instructions to all Indian missions, acknowledging that undue delays were occurring and emphasising that repatriating the bodies of deceased Indian citizens must be treated as a high priority.

"Given the sensitive nature of the issue of transportation of mortal remains of Indian citizens from foreign countries, Indian Missions/Posts have been again directed to accord high priority to cases pertaining to transportation of mortal remains of Indian citizens from foreign countries," said MEA in their reply to Athmesan.