Chennai: Madras high court on Tuesday dismissed a plea moved by MDMK leader Vaiko challenging a 2012 notification issued by the Union govt, extending the ban against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in India, under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.LTTE was originally banned in India after the assassination of the former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. Despite the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka in May 2009, the Indian govt extended the ban against the organisation from time to time.A similar notification was issued in 2012 by the then central govt, extending the ban against LTTE. In 2013, Vaiko moved the high court challenging the notification. He contended that the ban must be revoked as LTTE was only fighting for the rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka.The Union govt opposed the plea, submitting that Vaiko was in no way aggrieved by the notification as he is not a not a member of LTTE and hence has no locus to challenge the ban. It further argued that nothing survived in the plea, since every time a fresh notification was issued for banning the organisation, it was not a case of extension.
