The Bombay high court on Wednesday directed the state government to inform the court in writing about its current stand on furnishing details sought by the central government with regard to its recommendations on imposing a ban on the Sanatan Sanstha.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by one Vijay Rokade seeking a ban on the Sanstha claiming it was involved in unlawful activities. The petitioner claimed that the additional chief secretary of home department had sent a proposal to the director of Ministry of Home Affairs in April 2011, informing about three bomb blast cases registered against Sanstha activists. The state government had concluded that the Sanstha was liable to be banned and had requested the Centre to consider its recommendation to declare the outfit “unlawful” and include its name in the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) as a terrorist organisation. However, no decision had been taken thus far.

The petitioner said that the home department had informed the court that the Centre was dissatisfied with material provided by the state to impose a ban and had asked the state several questions to which the state had not given any replies. The petitioner pointed out that despite repeated reminders, the state government had failed to provide requisite details for the Centre to act upon its proposal of banning the right-wing outfit.

During hearing on Wednesday, the division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice Parakash Naik sought to know under what provision the government could ban a registered trust, and it was informed that a ban could be imposed under provisions of UAPA.

The Sanstha’s lawyer, Sanjay Punalekar, submitted before the bench that as per law, a ban could be imposed on the trust only if cases under UAPA were registered against the organisation and the fact was that not a single such case had been registered against any member of the Sanstha.