Madras HC flays collector for promulgating ban order

The Madras High Court today said it was bad on the part of the Tuticorin district collector to promulgate regulatory order under Section 144 at Srivaikundam on the ground that it was a "Thevar dominated area".
A division bench here of justices S Tamilvanan and V S Ravi, hearing a petition filed by Puthiatamizhagam leader K Krishnaswamy, said the collector had passed the order without knowing the basic principles on which such orders were passed.
In a secular state such orders could not be passed, it said quoting that a particular community was dominant in a particular area.
Krishnaswamy had sought a direction to declare the regulatory order as illegal and unconstitutional and also prayed for a stay on it.

The judges directed the collector to file his counter on the PIL.