New Deli: The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Thursday condemned the longstanding ban on government employees participating in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activities, criticising the flawed basis of the original office memorandums (OMs) issued between 1966 and 1980.
The court emphasised the lack of empirical evidence for the restriction, noting that the organisation, which has several non-political wings, was unjustly restricted without review or assessment. The bench of justices SA Dharmadhikari and Gajendra Singh highlighted that the ban, lifted by the Narendra Modi government on 9 July 2024, had diminished the aspirations of many central government employees.
“It took almost five decades for the government of India to realise its mistake that RSS was wrongly placed amongst the banned organisations of the country and that its removal therefrom is quintessential,” the bench said.
The court directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) and the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to ensure widespread publicity of the new order lifting the prohibition, mandating that the OM be displayed prominently on official websites and transmitted to all central government departments within 15 days.
The lifting of the ban has sparked political debate. BJP leader Amit Malviya praised the withdrawal of the “unconstitutional order,” while Congress leader Jairam Ramesh and AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi criticised the move. A retired government employee had challenged the Central Civil Service (Conduct) Rules based on the OMs, and the GoI informed the court that the prohibition had been revoked.
The court stated that the government of India cannot arbitrarily classify any organisation as a ‘don’t join’ organisation for its employees without clear rules of reason, fair play, and justice. The court emphasised that voluntary membership of an organisation like RSS for non-political activities cannot be proscribed through executive instructions and should only be done through duly enacted law if necessary.
