Bengaluru, Dec. 20 -- The Madras high court on Friday directed the Tamil Nadu government to take a "final call" on objections and modifications suggested by political parties to the draft Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for regulating large political gatherings, and to notify the final SOP by January 5, 2026.

The bench of chief justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and justice G Arul Murugan declined to interfere with the 47-page draft SOP submitted before it and said that any judicially mandated changes could "prejudice future legal challenges" to the final framework.

The court instead asked the state to independently evaluate every suggestion and objection placed on record and arrive at a reasoned decision.

"Having gone through the a...