New Delhi, Aug 25 - The Supreme Court Tuesday suspended a government order cancelling the Person-of-Indian Origin (PIO) card given to supermodel Ujjwala Raut's British husband and asking him to leave India.

While halting the imminent deportation of Raut's estranged husband Craig Maxwell Sterry, a bench of Justice B.N. Agrawal and Justice G.S. Singhvi asked the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court to decide by Sep 14 Maxwell's lawsuit challenging the cancellation of his PIO card.

The bench suspended the Aug 10 order that cancelled the PIO card till Sterry's lawsuit challenging its cancellation is decided by the Goa bench. Sterry is a Briton but has been residing in Goa after marrying Raut.

Conveying the central government's Aug 10 order about cancellation of his PIO card Aug 20, the Goa government asked Maxwell to leave India within 72 hours. This forced Maxwell to go into hiding fearing he might be caught by the police and deported to Britain.

Sterry, who was present in the court room during the hearing of his lawsuit, hailed the Indian judiciary. '(My) trust in the Indian judicial system has strengthened. This order shows that the judicial system in India is correct and it works properly and correctly.

'It's a great relief for me that now I will not have to be on the run and in hiding,' said Sterry. 'My wife wanted me to be thrown out of here.