New Delhi, October 07: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati’s fetish for building memorials and statues of Dalit leaders has brought the state government in the Supreme Court’s line of fire.
Upset with the defiant construction of these memorials at disputed sites despite repeated orders by it, the court on Tuesday ordered initiation of contempt proceedings against the topmost official in the Mayawati government.
A bench comprising Justice B.N. Agrawal and Justice Aftab Alam summoned Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Atul Kumar Gupta to court on November 4 to face contempt charges.
It has asked him to state why he should not be punished for violating court orders that had restrained the state government from going ahead with construction of memorials at disputed sites in Lucknow. The bench asked solicitor general Gopal Subramanium to assist the court in the matter.
After taking coercive action against the state government for violation of its orders, the bench also talked of possible intervention by the Centre if the court order against memorials and statues was still not complied with.
Issuing the contempt notice to Gupta, the bench observed that if the state government persisted with the constructions in violation of Supreme Court orders, “the ball would be in the hands of the Central government”.
Though the bench did not elaborate on the Centre’s role, it could well have hinted at the imposition of President’s Rule in Uttar Pradesh on the ground that the government was not being run in accordance with the Constitution.
In fact, during Monday’s proceedings, the bench had reminded the state government to abide by the Constitution and rule of law.
“What distinguished democracy from majoritarianism was the Constitution,” Justice Alam had said.
On Tuesday, the court did not pass any order on another application seeking deployment of central forces to ensure compliance of its order to halt construction work on the memorials at the disputed sites in Lucknow.
The state government counsel Harish Salve contended that the three sites-Samajik Parivartan Sanghrahalaya, Pratibimb Sthal and Drishya Sthal-on which construction had been going on were not covered by the restraint order.
But, the bench was not convinced.
The court’s order to initiate contempt proceedings against the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary came after he was named in connection with the ongoing work at the disputed memorial sites.
The court noted that while work at all sites had stopped after its September 11 order, subsequently somebody got wiser and directed resumption of construction at the three sites. “Who directed resumption of work?” Justice Agrawal asked. Initially Salve avoided the query. But, he named the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary after the court insisted.
“Did he say this in his affidavit?… It is a clear case for trial for contempt,” Justice Agrawal said. In these circumstances, he must appear before the court, he added.
Salve said the state would follow the order in letter and spirit for all disputed areas but areas already in occupation, like the chief minister’s bungalow and the BSP party office, should be exempted. These two properties had been built following a demolition drive which was the subject matter of one of the many petitions under consideration.
However, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for a journalist on whose plea the court had passed the interim order stopping work at the sites, said construction should not be allowed even in those areas.
He suggested the court again reiterate its order to restrain construction as this was being repeatedly violated.
Initially, the court had on September 8 recorded in its order an undertaking on behalf of the state government that construction at disputed sites would be stopped.
Following reports of violation of this undertaking, the court on September 11 issued a direction retraining the government from going ahead with the constructions.
On Tuesday, after dealing with the suo motu contempt initiated by it, the bench made this interim order absolute, saying it would be valid till further orders. This means, there will be no construction on most of the memorial projects and no worker or machine would be allowed in the disputed areas.
During the proceedings, Salve had tried to impress upon the court that the UP government was sincere about following the orders, but the problem arose because of confusion over the projects covered by the restraint order. Refusing to buy this argument, Justice Alam said, ” Your government was playing hide and seek with the court.” He said, though the state government had undertaken not to go ahead with construction of the memorials, it had kept two windows open to ensure work did not stop and the undertaking did not pose any hindrance.
First, it wanted to go ahead with some projects in the name of maintenance and second, by contending that the site was not a subject matter of dispute.
“When we restrained all work on September 11, the second window was opened,” Justice Alam said.
“You were desperate and determined not to allow the court to adjudicate the matter on merits. The speed with which work was going on shows that you wanted the petitions to become infructuous,” Justice Alam said.
The bench noted the work was going on in full swing at the three sites even after the restraint order on September 11.
—Agencies