New Delhi, October 06: The Supreme Court on Monday warned the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh not to play politics with the court, reprimanding it for not stopping work on memorials of Dalit leaders as ordered by the court.
On September 8, the apex court told the state government to stop work on the Rs2,600-crore memorials — statues of BSP founder Kanshi Ram, the party’s election symbol elephant and chief minister Mayawati — being built with tax payers’ money.
“You tell us who has given the instructions [to carry on with the work]? No Tom, Dick, Harry would have given it. It must have come from the highest level,” the court told senior counsel Harish Salve and Mayawati’s close aide SC Mishra, who appeared for the state.
“You (the state government) don’t play politics as you do with other political parties in the legislative assembly,” a bench comprising justices BN Agrawal and Aftab Alam said.
Expressing dissatisfaction at the state’s affidavit that sought to justify the extravagance, the bench observed: “We have read with deep pain your (UP’s) affidavit and the undertaking made by you was lacking in sincerity. It was just an eyewash.”
Salve pleaded there was “some confusion” and the government never violated the court’s order. Earlier, the court derided the state saying: “Don’t behave this way as you behaved with the opposition in the assembly. Don’t treat this court as your political adversary as [though] you have some points to score.”
“The state government is behaving under brute majority and unmindful of the rule of law,” the bench observed. “What distinguishes democracy from majoritarian rule is the Constitution,” the judges remarked, reminding the Mayawati government of the importance of the parliamentary democracy where the will of the people must prevail and opposition must be respected.
“It (state) isn’t behaving like a prudent government by continuing to carry out construction at various memorial sites after September 8 in violation of the court order to stop it,” said the judges, deferring the hearing in a PIL filed by two lawyers till Tuesday.
The case so far Sep 18: SC refuses to allow completion of Rs2,600 crore memorials, expresses dissatisfaction over state government’s affidavitSep 8: Apex court tells UP government to stop work on memorials, says it needs to examine how state will incur colossal expenditure on them
July 11: SC refuses to stop Mayawati government’s plans to build statues of Dalit leaders, says it can only intervene if there is misappropriation of funds
June 30: SC raps state government for its statue-building spree on a PIL filed by lawyer Ravi Kant a week earlier
–Agencies–