NEW DELHI: Delhi high court Monday said the plea filed by Popular Front of India (PFI) challenging a UAPA tribunal order that upheld the Centre’s decision to impose a five-year ban on the outfit was maintainable and listed the matter for hearing on Jan 20, 2026.A bench of chief justice DK Upadhyaya and justice Tushar Rao Gedela issued notice to the Centre, asking it to respond to the PFI plea within six weeks. The court asked the outfit to file its rejoinder thereafter within two weeks.The Centre argued that the petition was not maintainable as UAPA tribunal itself was headed by a sitting high court judge and therefore the order could not be challenged under Article 226 of the Constitution in the HC.However, the HC observed, “We hold that this court has the jurisdiction to entertain and maintain a writ petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution against an order of the tribunal passed under section 4 of the UAPA Act.” The court had reserved its order on Aug 28 on the issue of maintainability of the PFI plea.UAPA tribunal had on Mar 21, 2024, upheld the Centre’s ban order dated Sept 27, 2022, for PFI’s alleged links with global terrorist organisations, such as IS, and for trying to spread communal hatred in the country. Over 150 people allegedly linked to PFI were detained or arrested in raids in a pan-India crackdown in September 2022.
