MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra government to submit its response to petitions filed by political parties and trade unions challenging the controversial Maharashtra Special Public Security Act, 2025, which was enacted to curb the activities of “left-wing extremist” organisations.
The petitioners include the Indian National Congress, the Communist Party of India, and the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). A division bench of justices AS Gadkari and Justice Kamal Khata then ordered the state government to file its affidavit in reply to the petition and posted the matter for further hearing on October 6.
The legislation, whose stated objective is to curb “urban Naxalism” or frontal organisations of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), was passed unanimously in the Maharashtra legislative assembly last year. It aims to enact a special law to curb “left-wing extremism”, the central government’s preferred term for Maoist/Naxal activities. Earlier reporting noted: Justices Ajey Gadkari and Kamal Khata were hearing petition filed by Congress , CPI, People’s Union for Civil Liberties and All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) to declare the Act unconstitutional and violative of fundamental rights as it will “suppress constitutionally protected peaceful and legitimate dissent”.
On Tuesday, when the petitions came up for hearing, senior advocate Navroz Seervai, appearing for the AITUC, submitted that the Act had incorporated drastic provisions with far-reaching consequences, including powers to confiscate properties and evict people from their homes.
