1. The local Office-bearers of the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, of the areas of Chennai, Mannargudi, Tuticorin, Karur, Coimbatore and Kanyakumari, have come up with the above writ petitions, either seeking a mandamus to direct the Respondents to grant permission to them to conduct a peaceful procession in their respective areas on the occasion of their Founder's Day viz., 09.11.2014 and to hold a public meeting thereafter or seeking to set aside the orders of partial or total rejection of such requests.

2. I have heard Mr.T.V.Ramanujun, learned Senior Counsel, Mr.S.Prabhakaran, Mr.N.Chandrasekaran and Mr.B.Rabu Manohar, learned counsel appearing for the petitioners and Mr.AL.Somayaji, learned Advocate General, assisted by Mr.P.Sanjay Gandhi, learned Additional Government Pleader for the Respondents.

3. As stated earlier, the petitioners in these writ petitions are the members of an organisation known as Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh. According to them, the organisation wanted to hold a peaceful march to celebrate the Founder's Day on 09.11.2014, to be followed by a public meeting. The petitioners made representations to the Commissioners of Police, or the District Superintendents of Police, as the case may be, seeking permission to organise a procession and to conduct a meeting. In one or two cases, no orders have been passed on the applications. In a majority of the cases, the applications have been rejected. At least in one case, the application has been partially allowed, permitting the petitioners to hold a public meeting but not to organise the procession. The grounds on which the Respondents have rejected the request of the petitioners, are just the same in all cases and hence it is easy to dispose of all cases together.

4. The stand taken by the Respondents in brief, for rejecting the request of the petitioners, is as follows:-

(i) that in view of the amendment to Section 41A of the Chennai City Police Act, 1888, made under Tamil Nadu Amendment Act 34 of 2012, the Commissioner has the power to prohibit the holding of any drill, training or assembly with arms;

(ii) that a prohibitory order in terms of Section 41A has already been issued by the Commissioner;

(iii) that the State Government, in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 54A of the Tamil Nadu District Police Act, 1859, has already extended the provisions of Section 41A of the Chennai City Police Act, 1888 to the other areas of the State;

(iv) that under Section 30(2) of the Police Act, 1861, the District Superintendents of Police have the power to regulate public assemblies and processions;

(v) that the State Government has received inputs from various intelligence agencies of the State and the Centre that terrorists outfits are likely to engage in disruptive activities; and

(vi) that the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh volunteers wear an uniform resembling that of a police force and also carry lathis, which come within the meaning of the expression "arms" under Section 41A and that therefore, the permission sought for could not be granted.

5. Since the sheet anchor of the case of the Respondents revolves around Section 41A of the Chennai City Police Act, 1888, the same is extracted as follows:-

"41-A. Power to prohibit drill training or assembly:-(1) (a) The Commissioner may, whenever he considers it necessary so to do for the preservation of the public peace or public safety or for the maintenance of public order, by order in writing, prohibit the holding of, or taking part in, any drill training or assembly with arms or in uniform resembling that of armed forces of the Union or Police force whether in a public or private place.

(b) The Commissioner may, whenever he considers it necessary so to do for the preservation of the public peace or public safety or for the maintenance of public order, by order in writing, prohibit:-

(i) the use of gestures or mimetic representations or playing of tapes or gramophone records or other instruments in which speech