A GROUP of Sri Lankan asylum seekers have dropped a High Court challenge to their deportation after the federal government agreed they would not be removed "in the foreseeable future".
The 56 Tamils, who are in detention in Darwin, were due to have the court hear their case on Thursday but refugee advocate Ian Rintoul says it now won't go ahead.
At issue was the practice of "screening out", when asylum seekers are asked to explain why they came to Australia and the circumstances in their home country.
It is understood this process is often done in a single interview.
On Wednesday the men involved in the court challenge were allegedly told they would now be able to make their protection visa claims in the usual way.
Mr Rintoul welcomed the move but said the government had much to explain.
"It has been desperate to avoid the court and any public scrutiny of its screening-out process," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
"It has virtually admitted that it cannot defend the way in which screening-out decisions are being made."
However, an Immigration Department spokesman told AAP no agreement had been made with the asylum seekers.
He said the men had been told they would not be removed "in the foreseeable future", but did not rule out that the men may be sent to offshore processing centres or eventually face deportation.
"If the asylum seekers are found not to be eligible to stay in Australia they will be returned to Sri Lanka," the spokesman said.
"There are no current plans to return them in the foreseeable future but as they arrived after August 13 they may be transferred to Nauru or Manus Island.
"The department gave no undertaking this group would be processed in Australia."
Greens immigration spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young called on the government to end the "screening-out" practice for all boat arrivals.
"The government needs to assess whether these people are refugees before they make the decision as to whether they should be deported," she said in a statement.
Australia has deported 593 Sri Lankans involuntarily since August 13.
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