http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Court-rejects-plea-against-memorials/articleshow/4764840.cms
Court rejects plea against memorials 11 Jul 2009, 0228 hrs IST, ET Bureau NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain the plea seeking direction to the UP government to put on hold the ongoing project of installation of the statues of chief minister Mayawati and other dalit leaders in Noida. A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam refused to intervene on the ground that such projects were approved by the state cabinet. “If it (project) has been approved by the government, this court cannot interfere”, the bench said when an application seeking to maintain the status quo on the works was mentioned before it. The UP Rajkiya Nirman Nigam Ltd relying to an RTI query had admitted that under the scheme to beautify the Sector 95 park (official ‘address’ of the Yamuna bed in front of Sectors 14A and 15A in Noida ) a Central Park Plaza was being built at a whopping cost of Rs 187.20 crore. It had said that the plaza will have statues of three leaders — Dr B R Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram and Ms Mayawati, among others. The bench at the outset of the hearing said, the application should have been filed before the Allahabad High Court where other matters relating to the installation of statues were pending. “First, you (petitioner) should have gone to the high court where some more petitions relating to it were going on”, said court when advocate Ravi Kant mentioned the application. The apex court had on June 29 issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on Mr Kant’s petition. It had alleged misuse of public funds for the installation of statues of Mr Mayawati, the late Kanshi Ram and that of elephants — BSP’s election symbol — at a park in Lucknow. In his fresh application, the petitioner alleged that the four weeks granted to the state government to reply to the court notice were being used to expedite the works for the installation of the statues. The court, however, said, the fresh application will be heard along with the main petition. Senior advocates Harish Salve and Satish Chandra Mishra appeared on behalf of the state government. The PIL had sought a direction to restrain Ms Mayawati from installing her statues and those of elephants at public places with public fund and demanded a CBI probe into the misuse of state exchequer. Mr Kant had submitted that the information gathered through RTI disclosed that 60 statues of elephants were being installed by Uttar Pradesh government at a cost of Rs 52.20 crore at public places by utilising state funds. The PIL alleged that spending crores of rupees to “falsely glorify” leaders in a state like Uttar Pradesh, which is part of the so called ‘BIMARU’ states having Human Development Index among the lowest in the country, is a complete misuse of public money. ------------------------------------ ---- INFORMATION OVERLOAD? Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to zestmedia-dig...@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/ PARTICIPATE:- On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:- If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to zestcaste-subscr...@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/ Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:zestcaste-dig...@yahoogroups.com mailto:zestcaste-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: zestcaste-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
