NEW DELHI: The Delhi HC on Monday ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear a challenge by the Popular Front of India (PFI) to the Centre’s five-year ban on the organisation, declaring the petition maintainable and directing the government to file its response in writing within six weeks.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued notice to the Centre and allowed the PFI two weeks to file a rejoinder. The matter is listed for further hearing on January 20, 2026.
The PFI is contesting the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) tribunal’s March 21, 2024 verdict, which had upheld the government’s September 27, 2022 notification declaring the group and certain linked bodies “unlawful associations.” The tribunal had affirmed the Centre’s decision to proscribe the organisation.
“In view of the aforesaid, we hold that this court has the jurisdiction to entertain and maintain a writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution against an order of the tribunal passed under Section 4 of the UAPA Act... we thus hold the instant petition to be maintainable,” the bench said while pronouncing its order.
The Centre had argued that the petition was not maintainable because the UAPA tribunal was presided over by a sitting high court judge, and therefore its orders could not be challenged under Article 226. The government maintained that the tribunal’s composition placed its orders beyond the High Court’s writ jurisdiction.
The ban on the PFI, imposed in September 2022, cited alleged links with international terrorist organisations, including ISIS and accused the group of efforts to foment communal hatred. Alongside the PFI, the government proscribed several associated entities and fronts — including Rehab India Foundation, Campus Front of India, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation, National Women’s Front, the Junior Front, Empower India Foundation, and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.
The proscription triggered nationwide enforcement action in September 2022, with raids across multiple states.
