The State government on Thursday informed the Madras High Court that it has decided to reject an application made by the Tamil Nadu unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to carry out a ‘Vetri Vel Yatra’, a tour planned across the State beginning from one of the six abodes of Lord Murugan at Tiruttani on November 6 and ending at His other abode in Tiruchendur on December 6.
Chief Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy were told by Advocate General Vijay Narayan that the State government was in the process of finalising and communicating the rejection order to the BJP office-bearers. He said it would not be advisable to permit such a tour when the threat of COVID-19 was yet to subside.
The A-G told the court that the State secretary of BJP had made an application to the Director General of Police (DGP) on October 15 seeking permission for the State-wide yatra. The DGP, on October 15, asked the applicant to approach individual Superintendents and Commissioners of Police and instructed the latter to consider the plea in accordance with local conditions.
Subsequently, on November 2, the Tiruvallur district secretary of the BJP filed an application before the Superintendent of Police seeking permission for a public meeting in Tiruttani on November 6. That application did not state that they were planning a State-wide yatra. However, now, the State government had decided to deny permission for the entire tour, he said.
‘Centre has issued advisories’
Mr. Narayan also stated the Centre itself had been issuing periodical advisories against permitting large gatherings. Further, a State Government Order issued on October 31 had prohibited religious gatherings till November 16. Even thereafter, the government had decided to permit gatherings with a rider that not more than 100 people should congregate at a time.
Pointing out that the Deepavali festival season was fast approaching and that the threat of a second and even third wave of COVID-19 was looming large, the A-G said it would not be appropriate to permit the yatra in such a precarious situation. “There are certainly other overtones too, to the yatra,” Mr. Narayan told the first Division Bench.
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The submissions were made during the hearing of two public interest litigation petitions filed against the conduct of the yatra. Counsel for one of the petitioners pointed out that the yatra had been planned to end on December 6 when Muslims across the country mourn the demolition of Babri Masjid. He feared that the yatra might disturb communal harmony.
‘Litigants were premature’
However, advocate V. Raghavachari, representing BJP State president L. Murugan, said it was too premature for the litigants to have approached the court when the government was yet to pass final orders on his application seeking permission for the yatra. He also said the government could not decide to reject permission without affording an opportunity of hearing to him.
He also contended that the Centre had not prohibited religious congregations in toto and that it had only insisted upon maintaining physical distance between the participants. After hearing all of them, the judges disposed of the two PIL petitions with an observation that the government would be free to pass appropriate orders on the application seeking permission for the yatra.
Such orders passed by the government could be challenged by any of the aggrieved parties, the Bench observed.
