Home Minister Letter to RSS. Opinion of Mr. B. V. Acharya.

B.V. Acharya, Senior Advocate and former Advocate General for Karnataka.

There is raging controversy regarding the Notice/Letter written by the State Home Minister to the R.S.S. 

What are the legal implications of the letter ?

The Home Minister has now clarified that he has given this notice officially on behalf of the Government   (It would have been different matter if it was written by him in his individual capacity).  

Any such notice can be given by any authority to a citizen or institution only under authority of law. There is no inherent power in any authority to issue such notice.  Moreover, such notice must specify the authority and the provisions of law under which the same is issued. This is a mandatory requirement of a valid notice. 

In the present case, no such provision appears to have been quoted.  

To my knowledge, there is no authority vested in the Home Minister to issue any such notice to a citizen or institution/ organisation seeking a reply containing particulars called for.  He has no authority to represent the Government (as claimed) to issue the notice. Even notice from the Government also must mention the provision under which it is issued.  Even a Cabinet decision has no legal sanctity unless the same is issued by way of a Government Order ‘for and in the name of the Governor’. Further, if the notice is alleging any violation of any law, it must specify the provision of law which is infringed. 

Therefore, in my opinion, the so called notice or letter issued by the State Home Minister has no legal backing or sanctity and the person receiving the notice is entitled to ignore the same.

This opinion of mine is only on a point of law not touching upon the contents or claims in the notice.