TN govt files fresh petition in SC over RSS route march issue

NEW DELHI: The Tamil Nadu Government on Friday apprised the Supreme Court (SC) that they have filed fresh petitions against the Madras High Court order relating the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) route march in the state.

A bench of justices V Ramasubramanian and Pankaj Mithal adjourned the matter for March 27 for further hearing.

In the fresh petitions, the Tamil Nadu government has challenged two orders of the Madras High Court dated September 22, 2022, and November 2, 2022.

The court was hearing the Tamil Nadu government's appeal against the Madras High Court order permitting RSS for its route march in the state.

On February 10, Madras High Court directed Tamil Nadu police to grant permission to RSS to undertake route marches in various districts across the State on public roads.

In the last hearing, Tamil Nadu government told the Supreme Court that they are not totally against the RSS route march but can't permit it in sensitive locations.

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) had also assured the Supreme Court that it will not hold any route march on March 5 in Tamil Nadu as the organisation has decided to postpone the rally.

Tamil Nadu government had also said that they will have a dialogue with the RSS on proposed routes for the march as they are not totally opposed to it.

The state government had apprised the court that the government denied holding route marches in the sensitive areas, which have faced PFI incidents and have border areas with disturbances.

The lawyer said that the government had some intelligence reports.

The lawyer for Tamil Nadu Government had stressed that they are not entirely opposed to the procession but to the manner in which it is proposed to be done.

"The ground the state government mentioned is that Popular Front of India (PFI) was banned by Central Government and it is a threat to the organisation. They are not able to control terrorist organizations and that is why they want to ban the route march", said the RSS lawyer.

Tamil Nadu government has moved to the top court against the Madras High Court order permitting the RSS to take out its route march in Tamil Nadu on rescheduled dates.