Priyanka Singh
Published on: October 6, 2022 at 18:23 IST
Delhi High Court Judge Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma has been appointed by the Central Government as the Presiding Officer of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Tribunal.
The Tribunal will review the ban imposed on the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliated organizations.
After elevation from the Delhi Higher Judicial Service, Justice Sharma was appointed as the judge of the High Court of Delhi on 28th Feb, 2022.
On 28th September, the Ministry of Home Affairs declared the PFI and its affiliates as “unlawful associations” with immediate effect for a period of 5 years in exercise of the powers u/s 3(1) of the UAPA citing links with terrorist organizations and also being involved in terror acts.
The PFI’s associates involved and named by the Centre were viz. Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation, and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.
Under Section 3 of the UAPA, the Central Government, where any association has been declared unlawful, within thirty days from the date of publication of the notification, refers the notification to the Tribunal for the purpose of adjudicating to identify the sufficient cause for the declaration of the association as unlawful.
The Section 5 states that the UAPA Tribunal should consist of one person, and that person should be a Judge of a High Court.
On receipt of the notification, the Tribunal will call upon the affected association with a show cause notice, where, within thirty days from the thirty days from the date of service of such notice to contend in favour of why the association should not be declared unlawful.
Until the Tribunal has made an order under Section 4 confirming the declaration and publishing it in the Official Gazette, the notification of the Centre will have no effect.
As per the notification of Office Memorandum issued by the Ministry of Law & Justice where Justice Sharma was appointed as the Presiding Officer, the time spent by him in performing his duties of the UAPA Tribunal will count as “actual service” within the meaning of para 11(b)(i) of Part D of the second schedule of the Constitution read with Section 2(1)(c)(i) of the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act 1954.