Ban on LTTE;Jayalalithaa government to adopt Centre's stand in Madras HC

The Tamil Nadu government headed by AIAIDMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, has submitted before the Madras High Court that it was adopting the Centre's counter to a writ petition challenging an order of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal confirming the Union government's ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The writ petition has been filed by MDMK general secretary Vaiko.

In the counter, M. Saleem, Deputy Secretary, Public (SC) Department, stated that the Centre issued a notification dated May 14, 2010 declaring the LTTE as an “unlawful association”.

By an order dated November 12, 2010 the tribunal, after hearing arguments, confirmed the ban.

The State government sought the court's permission to adopt the Centre's counter in addition to its counter affidavit.

The Centre, in its counter, had submitted that Mr. Vaiko was not an aggrieved person within the ambit of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to challenge the tribunal's order.

The impleading applications of Mr. Vaiko and others were rightly disallowed by the tribunal as none of them was the association itself or its office-bearer or member of the banned organization as required under the law. Unless Mr. Vaiko proved with supporting evidence to demonstrate that he was an aggrieved person, his writ petition was not maintainable.

Citing the petitioner's claim that the LTTE's objective was not establishing an independent sovereign State for all Tamils living in the entire world, but only for Tamils in Sri Lanka and, therefore, there was no threat to India's sovereignty, the Union government said that Mr. Vaiko was neither an office-bearer nor an LTTE member. He was not the Tigers' spokesman.

A Division Bench of Justices Elipe Dharma Rao and N. Kirubakaran adjourned the matter for April 9.

- Asian Tribune –

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