The Madras High Court on Wednesday suo motu impleaded the Chief Secretary as well as Home Secretary as respondents to a petition filed by Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) and called for their response to a policy decision to be taken by the State government for collecting security deposits from political parties whenever they intend to hold public meetings, processions and such other events.
Justice N. Sathish Kumar directed the newly impleaded respondents to file their response by October 16. He also expressed displeasure over an Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police, an officer in the rank of Superintendent of Police serving in the office of Director General of Police, having filed an affidavit in response to an order passed by the court on September 18 for making security deposits mandatory.
In his affidavit, the AIG had stated that there were no legal provisions at present to collect security deposits in order to indemnify the loss to public / private property during the public events conducted by political parties and that the police department would require time to frame guidelines in this regard, as directed by the court during the last hearing, after consulting all stakeholders.
Unhappy with such a response, the judge told Additional Public Prosecutor (APP) E. Raj Thilak, that “what is required to frame the guidelines is the will do to so.” He said, the AIG was not the appropriate officer to take a policy decision on behalf of the State government and therefore, it was necessary to implead the Chief Secretary as well as the Home Secretary as respondents to the case.
TVK, represented by its deputy general secretary C.T.R. Nirmal Kumar, had approached the High Court complaining about the “onerous” conditions being imposed by the police for the ongoing campaign by its leader C. Joseph Vijay across the State. The party claimed that its leader was being singled out and that such conditions were being imposed at the behest of the ruling dispensation.
During the hearing of the case on September 8, Justice Kumar had taken note of various incidents of damage to private/public property caused in the past during huge gatherings of political parties and impressed upon the need for the State government to frame guidelines for collecting security deposits to indemnify the loss under the Tamil Nadu Property (Prevention of Damage and Loss) Act of 1992.
“When you collect EMD (Earnest Money Deposit) from civil contractors, why can’t you collect security deposit from political parties especially when the TNPPDL Act provides for compensating the loss caused to public as well as private property?” the judge asked the APP.
Published – September 24, 2025 07:52 pm IST
