COVID-19: Nodal officer appointed to assist Indians stranded in USA, Centre tells HC

New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI) The Centre informed the Delhi High Court Tuesday that a nodal officer has been appointed in New York to offer assistance to Indians stranded in the US due to the global outbreak of coronavirus.

The submission was made before a bench of Justices Manmohan and Sanjeev Narula which was hearing, via video conferencing, an Indian couple's plea for evacuation of their 24-year-old daughter from USA where she is stranded jobless.

Their plea also sought safe and secure return of all Indian citizens employed in the US who, like their daughter, lost their jobs after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Central government standing counsel Jasmeet Singh told the bench that a nodal officer has been appointed in New York "to offer all possible help and assistance to all Indian citizens and to ensure their well being".

Singh also told the court that the Deputy Consulate General would get in touch with the couple's daughter and "will provide her all reasonable assistance, including facilitation in obtaining accommodation at reduced rate in a safe place".

"The statement made by the central government standing counsel for Union of India is accepted by this court and the Union of India is held bound by the same," the bench said and listed the matter for further hearing on May 8.

The couple, represented by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal, meanwhile, decided not to press for evacuation of their daughter at this stage.

The couple moved the high court as their daughter was stranded jobless in the USA after her employer suddenly asked her to resign on March 20 in the wake of COVID-19 and she could not return to India due to ban on commercial flights.

Similar is the situation of many Indian citizens who were employed in the US but are now stranded there jobless in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, the petition has claimed.

The plea has also said that the petitioners' 24-year-old daughter -- Yasmin Tahiira Hussain -- only has two months from March 20 to leave the USA as per her H1b visa conditions.

The petition has claimed that if the travel ban is further extended then it would be difficult for her to leave the USA and she cannot survive there for long without a regular source of income as should would not be able to afford food or rent.

The couple also told the bench that their daughter was "facing mental and emotional stress and trauma" as she had no job and all her flatmates had returned home leaving her alone in the flat.