Madras High Court Directs Tamil Nadu Govt To Issue Final Guidelines For Public Meetings By Political Parties

Chennai: The Madras High Court has ordered the Tamil Nadu government to issue final guidelines regarding conduct of public meetings and roadshows by political parties in the state by January 5.

On September 27, 41 people were killed in a stampede during a campaign event of the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) in Karur. Following the incident, which sent shockwaves across Tamil Nadu, public interest litigations were filed in the Madras High Court by parties including TVK and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), as well as by individuals, seeking directions to formulate guidelines for political parties' roadshows.

Following the order issued by a bench comprising Chief Justice MM Srivastava and Justice G Arulmurugan, which heard the petitions, the Tamil Nadu government, after obtaining views of political parties, formulated and submitted draft guidelines for public meetings and roadshows to the High Court.

The guidelines stated, "Controlling crowd at public meetings and roadshows, and arranging essential facilities such as drinking water and toilets, are the sole responsibility of the respective political parties". It added that permission for the venues where public meetings and roadshows are to be held must be granted by the respective District Collector.

The guidelines further stated that before conducting public meetings and roadshows, applications must be submitted specifying the date, time, purpose, expected number of participants, number of vehicles, and details of key leaders. For roadshows, the start and end points of the campaign must be clearly mentioned in the application.

It stated the arrival and departure times of the chief guests must also be specified in the application. "Permission will not be granted if the time is not specified. A Public Works Department engineer must inspect the relevant area and certify the maximum number of people who can gather at the specified locations. For this, the event organizers must apply separately to the Public Works Department," the guidelines stated.

It stated that applications for permission must be submitted 10 days before the event. "For events like party conferences where more than 50,000 people are expected to gather, applications must be submitted 30 days in advance. Details of arrangements for medical facilities, including first aid and ambulance services, must be compulsorily mentioned in the applications. The permitted time for the event must be strictly adhered to. The event organizers are solely responsible for the safety of the crowd," it added.

On November 28, the judges who reviewed the guidelines ordered that "the Tamil Nadu government's model guidelines should be provided to all political parties, their opinions obtained, and the guidelines finalized.

Subsequently, the case came up for hearing on Friday before a bench comprising Chief Justice MM Srivastava and Justice Arulmurugan. After hearing the arguments from both sides, the judges ordered the Tamil Nadu government to "consider the objections of all parties and announce the final guidelines by January 5."

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