Tamil Nadu Govt Moves Supreme Court Challenging Madras HC Order Allowing RSS Route March

The Tamil Nadu government has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Madras High Court order granting permission to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to conduct route march in the state.

A division bench of Justice R Mahadevan and Justice  Mohammed Shaffiq had directed the Tamil Nadu police to grant the RSS permission to conduct the route march in the February 10 order.

The Tamil Nadu government denied the RSS permission to hold this march to commemorate ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ and Gandhi Jayanti in October 2022.

As a result, the RSS filed a petition before the Madras High Court for relief.

On November 4,2022, a single judge of the High Court granted the RSS permission to march under certain conditions.

The RSS appealed the November 4 order, which directed the RSS, among other things, to conduct its route march in an enclosed space or indoors.

On February 10, 2023, a division bench of the Madras High Court overturned the single-judge order and reinstated an earlier order from September 22, 2022, which directed the police to consider the RSS’s representation and grant them permission for the march.

In its February 10 order, the High Court also directed the RSS to give the Tamil Nadu police any three dates of its choosing for the route march in the State, adding that the police must grant permission for the march on any one of those three dates.

The bench also ordered the RSS to maintain strict discipline during the event, warning them not to engage in any provocation.

The state government has also been directed to make the necessary security and traffic arrangements for the march.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led government has now challenged this order before the Supreme Court.