A writ petition has been moved before the Madras High Court seeking to quash a judgment of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal, New Delhi, confirming the Centre's declaration that the LTTE is an unlawful association.
When the matter came up on Wednesday, the First Bench, comprising Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, ordered that the matter be put up after three weeks.
In its petition, the Prisoners Rights Forum, represented by its trustee and director, P. Pugalenthi, stated that the tribunal ought not to have considered the events prior to the decimation of the LTTE for the purpose of deciding the reference made by the Union government.
On this sole ground, the impugned judgment deserved to be quashed.
The tribunal had not recorded any finding to the effect that the Centre was in possession of credible material as on May 14, 2010, when it issued the notification declaring the LTTE as an unlawful association with immediate effect.
The tribunal had erred in not appreciating that the speeches made by people in Tamil Nadu had not been proved to be detrimental to the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Additional Solicitor-General M. Ravindran raised objection with regard to the maintainability of the writ petition and the jurisdiction of the court to entertain the petition.
