Delhi HC refuses to intervene in UAPA Tribunal proceedings on LTTE ban – ThePrint – PTIFeed

New Delhi, Oct 29 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has rejected the plea of ​​a Sri Lankan man in the US seeking to be heard in a case related to the declaration of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as illegal.

A bench of Justices Pratibha M Singh and Amit Sharma dismissed the plea of ​​Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran challenging the September 11 order of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act Tribunal which rejected his plea to be a party in the LTTE-related proceedings.

“The petitioner claims that he is the Prime Minister of a transnational government of Tamil Eelam and the impact that would allow such a person to intervene in these proceedings under the UAPA, that too when of course he is not a member of the LTTE or to a holder of the LTTE, is far-reaching as the position of the petitioner could have wider implications on matters of policy and relations with other nations, which are not to be determined either by the tribunal or by this court,” the tribunal said. .

Rudrakumaran claimed that after the disbandment of the LTTE, his sympathizers felt that the cause of the Sri Lankan Tamils ​​should continue to be agitated through peaceful means, which led to the formation of the TGTE, comprising an advisory board of various LTTE sympathizers.

However, the High Court noted that the state of Tamil Nadu and other sympathizers of the LTTE based in India were already being heard by the tribunal, through interventions, indicating the basic principles of equity and natural justice being followed by the tribunal.

The court said that while the tribunal was fully empowered to deal with the application for enforcement, the same cannot be allowed in all cases.

It also came on record that Rudrakumaran had earlier sought an intervention in 2019 and his plea was dismissed by the tribunal on locus standi.

Although the LTTE stated that it had no up-to-date organizational structure, officer, officers, assets, headquarters or other features and did not exist, the plea said that the TGTE had members beyond those associated with the LTTE.

He therefore argued that the TGTE was not the LTTE, adding that the former did not subscribe to all LTTE ideologies and supported an independent Tamil Eelam using non-violence and diplomacy.

According to the TGTE, the action of the Indian government to declare the LTTE as an illegal association had a negative impact on its functioning.

The Center challenged the maintainability of the petition on the ground that no appeal under the UAPA was filed against the order passed by the tribunal.

Initially, the LTTE was declared a “terrorist organisation” by the Central Government and in 1992 it was declared an “unlawful association” under the UAPA. The ban was extended and by a notification dated 14 May 2024, the LTTE was declared an unlawful association for a further period of five years. PTI SKV AMK

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