The Madras High Court has dismissed a petition filed by Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) General Secretary Vaiko challenging the Indian government’s ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The petition, originally filed in 2013, sought the removal of the ban imposed by the Union government following the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991.
A division bench comprising Justices Anitha Sumanth and Mummineni Sudheer Kumar dismissed the case on Tuesday, ruling that the petition had been filed in relation to a ban order that was no longer in force.
The LTTE was first banned in India in 1992 after Rajiv Gandhi was killed in a suicide bombing during an election rally in Sriperumbudur near Chennai. The ban has since been periodically extended by the central government. Initially renewed every two years, the ban was later extended for five-year periods. Fresh orders continuing the ban were issued in 2019 and again in 2024.
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General A.R.L. Sundaresan, appearing for the Union government, argued that Vaiko did not have the legal standing to challenge the ban.
“The petition by Vaiko seeking to be included as a plaintiff in the tribunal hearing to confirm the injunction order has been dismissed by the Delhi Tribunal, and therefore the petitioner does not have jurisdiction to file this case,” Sundaresan told the court.
He further argued that unless the LTTE itself challenged the prohibition, a third party could not seek to contest the order.
Sundaresan also noted that since investigations related to the ban had been conducted in Delhi, the Madras High Court did not have jurisdiction over the matter.
“Considering that the LTTE continued to be a threat, the Centre issued new orders on the ban in 2019 and 2024. Since no case was filed against those orders, the case filed against the order issued in 2012 is not suitable for investigation,” he said.
Vaiko argued that he had filed the petition as a supporter and sympathiser of the LTTE and challenged the legality of the prohibition.
“There is no evidence for the accusation that I tried to merge Tamil Eelam with India. Therefore, the Union government's ban is illegal, which should be lifted,” he said.
He also referred to the violence faced by Eelam Tamils by successive Sri Lankan governments and stated that successive extension orders had simply repeated the same reasoning as earlier notifications.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the bench observed that the petition challenged the 2012 notification extending the ban. However, the court noted that the 2012 order was no longer in effect, as the ban had since been renewed through later notifications. The judges therefore ruled that the petition was not maintainable.
The bench stated that the ban order issued in 2024 is currently in force and dismissed the case on the basis that the petition had been filed against an expired notification that was no longer valid for consideration.
The ruling effectively brings to an end Vaiko’s legal challenge to the ban filed more than a decade ago.