The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre whether it wanted to build a border wall like in the US to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country.

The top court outlined the "same legacy of cultural and linguistic heritage" shared by Bengali and Punjabi speaking Indians with the neighbouring countries and speaking the same language but divided by borders.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi went on to ask Centre to apprise it about the standard operating procedures (SOP) adopted by the governments in deporting illegal migrants, especially to Bangladesh.

The top court also impleaded the Gujarat government as a party in the matter.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, objected to the petition filed by the West Bengal Migrant Welfare Board alleging detention of Bengali-speaking migrant workers on suspicion of being Bangladeshi nationals and said no aggrieved parties were present before the court.

"This court should not entertain petitions filed by these organisations and associations, which may be supported by some state governments. There are no aggrieved parties before the court. We know how some state governments thrive on illegal immigrants. Demographic changes have become a serious issue," he said.

The bench told Mehta that those aggrieved were perhaps unable to reach the apex court for want of resources.

Mehta, referring to advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner board and other NGOs said such "public spirited persons" must help them in approaching the court besides helping people in the US where the issue over illegal immigration was big.

Justice Bagchi subsequently asked Mehta, "Do you want to build a border wall like in America to prevent illegal immigrants from entering India?"

Mehta replied, "Certainly not but there are no individual complainants. How can the Union of India reply to the vague allegations made in the petition. Let some individual come saying I am being pushed out. We are trying to ensure immigrants don't eat away at our resources. We can't go by media reports. There are agents who facilitate illegal entry into the country."