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9. The question therefore arises is, on what study or basis, activities of RSS organisation as a whole were treated in the decades of 1960s and 70s as communal or anti- secular; what was the empirical report, statistical survey or material, that led the then government of the day to arrive at an objective satisfaction that involvement of Central Government employees with the RSS & host of its activities (social, political, health, disaster management support, religious and educational) would precipitate communal feelings and communal bias in the whole community; what was the basis to arrive at the satisfaction, that involvement of any employee in the aforementioned activities of RSS (even post retirement, after demitting the office) would be indulging in a conduct that may treated as 'anti-secular'. The Court in the absence of any Reply filed by the Union of India to the said effect (despite being inquired again and again) is compelled to believe and presumed that perhaps there was never any material, study, survey or report at the relevant point of time on the basis of which the ruling dispensation arrived at a satisfaction that involvement and engagement of central government employees even with the apolitical/non political activities of RSS must be banned for maintaining the communal fabric and secular character of the country. On 5 different dates during the hearing of the present petition, this Court questioned the basis of issuance of the impugned circulars/ OMs that handcuffed the freedom of lakhs of Central Government employees of the country for almost five decades from the 1960s till 2024. These restrictions prima facie falling foul of cherished freedoms under Article 19(1) would have continued unabated further, but for the institution of the present writ petition on behalf of the petitioner, who himself is a retired employee, but was clutched and restricted from joining RSS even after his superannuation owing to impugned OM's.

10. Therefore, three questions arose in our mind when confronted with the Affidavit and the circular/OM dated 09.07.2024 filed on behalf of the UOI before this Court, that liberated RSS from the list of 'don't join' organisations overnight after 5 decades, permitting government servants to join RSS whilst in service or after retirement from their employment. These three questions are as follows :

a. What was the material, and the compelling survey/ study that constrained the Central Government to include RSS in the list of banned organisations, which the Central Government employees were restrained from joining. Whether actually the said material existed or it was merely issued on the mere ipse dixit of the erstwhile government of the day simply to crush an organisation not stated opposed to its ideology.

that RSS had been included in the list of 'don't join' organisations on the basis of certain material and study/ survey, then whether it's overnight deletion from the list of banned organisations by the Central Government has been preceded by any fresh material, data or a survey compelling it to be removed overnight from the list of 'don't join' organisations.

11. If said survey, study or evidence has been collected as mentioned above vide point c.) prior to deleting the name of RSS from the said list of 'don't join' organisations, then indubitably, if in future it is to be pushed back in the same compartment of 'don't join' organisations, then much more weighty considerations and compelling reasons supported by objective material, data and study would be necessary to be undertaken as a precondition by any successive government. Meaning thereby that picking, choosing RSS to be moved in and out; back and forth from the list of 'don't join' organisations cannot be done mechanically overnight, but must be preceded by deep thought, intensive thinking at the highest level of the Government. Only in a situation of a compelling national security and public interests, that it may be placed back in the said list. Otherwise if any subsequent executive action/ decision attempts to restore it back mechanically, then it will plainly play foul of Articles 14 and 19 of the Constitution of India of the concerned employee, who has emotional and ideological alignment with the RSS.

12. We say so for reasons many, more than one. Firstly, it's a matter of general knowledge in public domain that today RSS is the only nationally established self driven voluntary organisation outside the governmental bureaucratic hierarchy, which has highest membership drawn from all the districts and talukas of the country participating actively in religious, social, educational, health and many apolitical activities, under its umbrella, which have no pertinence to political activities of RSS. Secondly, the realm of activities undertaken by the host of subsidiary organisations under the larger umbrella of RSS are multiple other than political activities, having no correlation with active politics. These apolitical activities may be undertaken by the volunteers purely out of community service, without political ambitions or goals constituting the comrade on the field. Thus majority of the activities of RSS today are not at all related to the political sphere, but span over many other multiple areas of social engagement. Illustratively, 'Rashtriya Seva Bharti' (RSB) which a registered public trust, with the aim to organise a peer group with nationalist thoughts & patriotic sentiments under one umbrella; to give them training, exposure in the field of education, health, self reliance and other social activities. RSB is working throughout the country through 45 representative organisations, that is Seva Bharti and 1200 other affiliated Trusts and NGOs. A banyan tree network established on a pan India level across the country, with lakhs of volunteers drawn from all the States serving selflessly. Can RSB be treated as a 'political organisation', voluntary participation in which be banned, insofar its educational, health and social activities are concerned; would the bar of 'don't join' organisation extend to all the 1000+ affiliated trusts and NGOs working under its large umbrella; would the Central Government employees be guilty of misconduct, if they participate in the educational and social pursuits of RSB; these are some of the burning questions, which the Rule making authority ought to be extremely cautious and conscious of, before putting RSS or its subsidiary trusts and organisations blanketly in the hit list of 'don't join' organisations.