6 months ago
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The Madras High Court connected Friday (December 19, 2025) directed the Tamil Nadu authorities to see the objections and modifications suggested by assorted governmental parties to a draught Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) prepared for regulating governmental meetings, roadworthy shows, and different specified ample gatherings, wherever much than 5,000 radical are expected, and people the last SOP connected oregon earlier January 5, 2026.
First Division Bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan desisted from ordering immoderate changes to the draught SOP prepared by the Tamil Nadu government, arsenic the last SOP was taxable to judicial reappraisal and immoderate alteration made astatine the court’s lawsuit mightiness travel successful the mode of specified a ineligible situation successful the future.
The orders were passed connected a batch of writ petitions, including the 1 filed by histrion C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), which had complained of onerous conditions being imposed by the Tamil Nadu constabulary lone for its governmental campaigns. After the filing of the petition, arsenic galore arsenic 41 radical had died successful a stampede erstwhile the histrion campaigned astatine Karur connected September 27, 2025.
Thereafter, the authorities came up with a 47-page draught SOP proposing to penalise governmental parties and different organisers if they interruption the conditions imposed by the constabulary portion permitting the behaviour of nationalist meetings, processions, roadshows, demonstrations, protests, cultural/religious events, and different nationalist gatherings successful which not little than 5,000 radical were expected to participate.
Home Secretary Dheeraj Kumar said, the District Collector acrophobic would initiate proceedings to retrieve damages caused to public/private properties based connected post-event reports to beryllium submitted by the police. The enactment nether the Tamil Nadu Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act of 1992 would beryllium successful summation to transgression prosecution, helium told the the Division Bench.
AIADMK’s objections
The draught SOP besides stated it would not use to spiritual gatherings organised astatine places of worship arsenic customary events oregon wherever the venue/route had already been fixed by established customary precedents. However, the AIADMK, represented by elder counsel Vijay Narayan, objected to the exemption and insisted that the SOP indispensable beryllium made applicable to those spiritual events too.
Raising its objections to definite different clauses of the draught SOP, the AIADMK besides insisted that the organisers of nationalist meetings and protests should ever beryllium fixed the enactment of choosing either a designated venue oregon an alternate venue of their prime and not forced to behaviour events lone astatine designated venues conscionable due to the fact that the second could accommodate the assemblage expected to beryllium attending those events.
It further insisted connected giving up the information to get support from National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and State Highways section and said, it would suffice if the organisers pass those authorities astir the behaviour of the events and get support lone from the Police department. The enactment said, the constabulary indispensable instrumentality a telephone connected granting/denying support wrong 3 days of submission of applications.
Similarly, the TVK, arsenic good arsenic Desiya Makkal Sakthi Katchi, excessively had made definite suggestions for modifying the draught SOP during the people of the proceeding of the writ petitions. Therefore, the judges directed the authorities to see each those suggestions and notify the last SOP arsenic aboriginal arsenic imaginable but not aboriginal than January 5, 2026.
