Madras High Court asks VCK Chief Thol Thirumavalavan to approach Supreme Court against October 2 RSS procession

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader and Member of Parliament (MP) Thol Thirumavalavan to approach the Supreme Court against the permission granted to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to conduct a musical procession march at 51 places across Tamil Nadu on October 2..Thirumavalavan had approached the division bench of the High Court seeking recall of a single-judge decision granting permission to RSS. The division bench of acting Chief Justice T Raja and Justice D KrishnaKumar said that only the Supreme Court has the appellate jurisdiction to hear criminal writ petitions seeking recalling of a single-judge order of any High Court..The petitioner's counsel, Senior advocate NGR Prasad, argued that a division bench of the High Court has appellate jurisdiction to hear the petition because even though it was a criminal writ, the nature of dispute involved was civil. He argued that in the original petitions filed by a bunch of RSS functionaries, it had been argued that their fundamental right to equality before law and to freedom of expression as guaranteed under Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution, respectively, would be breached. .The High Court, however, said it was bound by the Supreme Court's orders on its jurisdiction."There is no question of getting into merits. The simple point here is maintainability. We are sorry, we cannot entertain this petition as we are bound by the Supreme Court's judgement," the High Court said..On September 22, singe-judge Justice GK Ilanthiraiyan had permitted the RSS to carry out a procession led by a musical band, and public meetings across Tamil Nadu on October 2, after the organization said that it wished to commemorate Gandhi Jayanti, its foundation day, Vijay Dasamai, and also honour Dr. BR Ambedkar..In his petition, Thirumavalavan however, said that the RSS had no devotion towards MK Gandhi and that the organisation was merely using the names of Gandhi and Ambedkar for political gains.The petitioner said that the musical processions were likely to impose a burden on the State police machinery considering the security arrangements that will have to be made. He also said that the general public is also likely to be inconvenienced because of the RSS event..The petition further claimed that in the 1940s, "RSS prohibited its volunteers from participating in the Quit India movement" that was led by Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters, and on January 30, 1948 "Nathuram Godse, a former member of RSS, assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.".Senior Advocate NGR Prasad appeared for Thol Thirumavalavan.Senior Advocates G Rajagopalan and S Prabhakaran and advocate Rabu Manohar had appeared for the petitioners before the single-judge. Additional Public Prosecutor Raj Tilak appeared for the Tamil Nadu government.