No. 469]

CHENNAI, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

Purattasi 11, Subakiruthu, Thiruvalluvar Aandu–2053

Part II—Section 1

Notifications or Orders of specific character or of particular interest to the public

issued by Secretariat Departments.

NOTIFICATIONS BY GOVERNMENT

TAMIL NADU

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

EXTRAORDINARY

PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY

©

[Regd. No. TN/CCN/467/2012-14.

GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU

[R. Dis. No. 197/2009.

2022

[Price: Rs. 1.60 Paise.

Ex-II-1—(469)

PUBLIC DEPARTMENT

(SC)

DECLARATION OF THE "POPULAR FRONT OF INDIA" (PFI), AND ITS ASSOCIATES OR AFFILIATES OR

FRONTS AS AN UNLAWFUL ASSOCIATION UNDER THE UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES (PREVENTION) ACT.

[G.O.No. SS.I/372-1/2022, Public (SC), 28th September 2022.]

No. II(1)/PUSC/39(a)/2022.

The following Notifi cation of the Ministry of Home Aff airs, Government of India, New Delhi [No. S.O. 4559(E)], dated

27-09-2022 is republished:-

S.O. 4559(E).—Whereas, the Popular Front of India (hereinafter referred to as the PFI) had been registered under the

Societies Registration Act, 1860 (21 of 1860) vide Registration No. S/226/Dist.South/2010 in Delhi and it has many associates

or affi liates or fronts, including Rehab India Foundation (RIF) (Registration Number 1352, dated 17.03.2008) , Campus Front

of India (CFI), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO) (Registration

Number S-3256, dated 12.09.2010), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation (Registration Number

KCH-IV-00150/2016-17, dated 02.12.2016) and Rehab Foundation, Kerala (Registration Number 1016/91);

And Whereas, the investigations have established clear linkages between PFI and its associates or affi liates or fronts;

And Whereas, Rehab India Foundation collects funds through PFI members and some of the members of the PFI are

also members of Campus Front of India, Empower India Foundation, Rehab Foundation, Kerala, and the activities of Junior

Front, All India Imams Council, National Confederation of Human Rights Organization (NCHRO) and National Women’s Front

are monitored/coordinated by the PFI leaders;

And Whereas, the PFI has created the above mentioned associates or affi liates or fronts with objective of enhancing

its reach among diff erent sections of the society such as youth, students, women, Imams, lawyers or weaker sections of the

society with the sole objective of expanding its membership, infl uence and fund raising capacity;

And Whereas, the above associates or affi liates or fronts have a ‘Hub and Spoke’ relationship with the PFI acting as

the Hub and utilizing the mass outreach and fund raising capacity of its associates or affi liates or fronts for strengthening its

capability for unlawful activities and these associates or affi liates or fronts function as ‘roots and capillaries’ through which

the PFI is fed and strengthened;

[1]

TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

2

And Whereas, the PFI and its associates or affi liates or fronts operate openly as socio-economic, educational and political

organization but, they have been pursuing a secret agenda to radicalize a particular section of the society working towards

undermining the concept of democracy and show sheer disrespect towards the constitutional authority and constitutional set

up of the country;

And Whereas, the PFI and its associates or affi liates or fronts have been indulging in unlawful activities, which are

prejudicial to the integrity, sovereignty and security of the country and have the potential of disturbing public peace and

communal harmony of the country and supporting militancy in the country;

And Whereas, some of the PFI’s founding members are the leaders of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and

PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), both of which are proscribed organisations;

And Whereas, there had been a number of instances of international linkages of PFI with Global Terrorist Groups like

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS);

And Whereas, the PFI and its associates or affi liates or fronts have been working covertly to increase radicalization

of one community by promoting a sense of insecurity in the country, which is substantiated by the fact that the some PFI

cadres have joined international terrorist organisations;

And Whereas, the Central Government is of the opinion that it is necessary to exercise its powers under sub-section

(1) of section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, (37 of 1967) (hereinafter referred to as the Act) in view of

the above stated reasons, which is substantiated by the following facts; namely,

(i) the PFI is involved in several criminal and terror cases and shows sheer disrespect towards the constitutional

authority of the country and with funds and ideological support from outside it has become a major threat to internal security

of the country,

(ii) investigations in various cases have revealed that the PFI and its cadres have been repeatedly engaging in

violent and subversive acts. Criminal violent acts carried out by PFI include chopping off limb of a college professor, cold

blooded killings of persons associated with organisations espousing other faiths, obtaining explosives to target prominent

people and places and destruction of public property,

(iii) the PFI cadres have been involved in several terrorist acts and murder of several persons, including Sh. Sanjith

(Kerala, November, 2021), Sh. V.Ramalingam, (Tamil Nadu, 2019), Sh. Nandu, (Kerala, 2021), Sh. Abhimanyu (Kerala, 2018),

Sh. Bibin (Kerala, 2017), Sh. Sharath (Karnataka, 2017), Sh. R.Rudresh (Karnataka, 2016), Sh. Praveen Pujari (Karnataka,

2016), Sh. Sasi Kumar (Tamil Nadu, 2016) and Sh. Praveen Nettaru (Karnataka, 2022) and the above criminal activities

and brutal murders have been carried out by PFI cadres for the sole objective of disturbing public peace and tranquility and

creating reign of terror in public mind,

(iv) there had been a number of instances of international linkages of PFI with Global Terrorist Groups and some

activists of the PFI have joined Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and participated in terror activities in Syria, Iraq and

Afghanistan. Some of these PFI cadres linked to ISIS have been killed in these confl ict theaters and some have been

arrested by State Police and Central Agencies and also the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB),

a proscribed terrorist organization,

(v) the Offi ce bearers and cadres of the PFI along with others are conspiring and raising funds from within India

and abroad through the banking channels, and the hawala, donations, etc. as part of a well-crafted criminal conspiracy, and

then transferring, layering and integrating these funds through multiple accounts to project them as legitimate and eventually

using these funds to carry out various criminal, unlawful and terrorist activities in India,

(vi) the sources of deposits on behalf of PFI with respect to its several bank accounts were not supported by the

fi nancial profi les of the account holders and the activities of PFI were not being carried out as per their declared objectives

and therefore, the Income Tax Department cancelled the registration granted to PFI under section 12A or 12AA of the Income

Tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961). The Income Tax Department also cancelled the registration granted to Rehab India Foundation

under section 12A or section 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961,

(vii) the State Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat have recommended to ban PFI.

And Whereas, the PFI and its associates or affi liates or fronts have been involved in the violent terrorist activities with

an intent to create a reign of terror in the country, thereby endangering the security and public order of the state, and the

anti-national activities of PFI disrespect and disregard the constitutional authority and sovereignty of the state and hence an

immediate and prompt action is required against the organisation;

And Whereas, the Central Government is of the opinion that if there is no immediate curb or control of unlawful activities

of the PFI and its associates or affi liates or fronts, the PFI and its associates or affi liates or fronts, will use this opportunity to –

(i) continue its subversive activities, thereby disturbing public order and undermining the constitutional set up of the

country;

TAMIL NADU GOVERNMENT GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY

3

(ii) encourage and enforce terror based regressive regime;

(iii) continue propagating anti-national sentiments and radicalize a particular section of society with the intention to

create disaff ection against the country;

(iv) aggravate activities which are detrimental to the integrity, security and sovereignty of the country;

And Whereas, the Central Government for the above-mentioned reasons is fi rmly of the opinion that having regard to

the activities of the PFI, it is necessary to declare the PFI and its associates or affi liates or fronts to be unlawful association

with immediate eff ect;

Now, Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)

Act, 1967 (37 of 1967), the Central Government hereby declares the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its associates or affi liates

or fronts including 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 as an “unlawful association”;

And Whereas, the Central Government, having regard to the above circumstances, is of fi rm opinion that it is necessary

to declare the PFI and its associates or affi liates or fronts as an unlawful association with immediate eff ect, and accordingly,

in exercise of the powers conferred by the proviso to sub-section (3) of section 3 of the said Act, the Central Government

hereby directs that this notifi cation shall, subject to any order that may be made under section 4 of the said Act, have eff ect

for a period of fi ve years from the date of its publication in the Offi cial Gazette.

[F. No. 14017/3/2022-NI-MFO]

Pකඉඞඍඍඖ Vඉඛඐඑඛගඉ,

Additional Secretary.

(Re-published by Order of the Governor)

V. IRAI ANBU,

Chief Secretary.

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF STATIONERY AND PRINTING, CHENNAI

ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL NADU