SIMI ban to stay, rules SC

The ASG’s arguments to seek an ex parte stay on the tribunal’s decision, which he said “was received late on Tuesday night”, saw the court ultimately ruling that decision would not be implemented till further orders.

While allowing the Government to file a detailed special leave petitions later in the day, the court also issued notice to the banned outfit, SIMI, and posted the matter for further directions after three weeks.

Assailing the order by the tribunal, headed by Justice Gita Mittal, a Delhi HC judge, the ASG highlighted how it had failed to go into merits of the case. “Merely on a technical ground, the tribunal has passed its decision of cancelling the reference in respect of confirmation of Notification (No 276 dated February 7, 2008) regarding declaration of the outfit as an unlawful association. In the 263-page decision, it is only in the last four pages that the tribunal has held that the material placed before it was insufficient,” he contended.

On Tuesday, the tribunal had quashed the February 7 notification of extending the ban on SIMI till 2010, saying no new evidence was placed to justify the ban.

In the appeal, the Centre pointed out that the tribunal failed to give due consideration to a Cabinet note which was placed before it in a sealed envelope and it also ignored the “deposition of 77 witnesses”, including top officials of IB and intelligence agencies from states.