Foreign Regional Registration Officer

• The Foreigners Registration Office (FRO) is an Indian government agency responsible for administering foreigner registration and immigration related functions for visitors to India.
• Foreigner registration is a mandatory requirement by the Government of India under which all foreign nationals (excluding overseas citizens of India) visiting India on a long term visa (more than 180 days) are required to register themselves with a Registration Officer within 14 days of arriving in India.
• The petitioner had initially come to India to study Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm), but overstayed for 11 months. It was also argued that under the Powers of Attorney Act, 1882, a foreigner cannot be represented before the high court.
• The other issue is whether a foreign national can execute a SPA sitting elsewhere in the globe for the purpose of filing a writ petition invoking Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
• The Power of Attorney is admittedly executed invoking the Powers of Attorney Act, 1882. The Act nowhere permits a foreign national to sit somewhere in the globe, execute a power of attorney invoking the Act and seek to get entertainment of a petition or a case before any courts in India.