The Bombay High Court and Madras High Court have rejected Public Interest Litigations (PILs) challenging government decisions to declare holidays for the Ram temple ceremony on January 22.
The Bombay High Court turned down a PIL filed by four law students, deeming it "politically motivated, frivolous, and vexatious." The court advised the students to utilise their time more constructively, refraining from imposing costs due to their youth.
"As pointed out by the respondent (Maharashtra government), there are some statements about political agenda in the plea that are political in nature...some are very reckless statements. On whose motivation or at whose instance have those statements been included in the plea?" the Bench asked. The HC also questioned the petitioners as to how the media came to know of the petition even before it was placed before the court.
The Maharashtra government argued that declaring a holiday falls within the executive policy decision of the government and should not fall for judicial scrutiny. The students in their plea claimed the decision to declare a public holiday keeping an eye over the upcoming parliamentary elections was a "gross abuse of power for political purposes".
Simultaneously, the
Madras High Court dismissed a petition against the half-day holiday granted to Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education & Research (JIPMER) on the same day. Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy found no merit in the petitioner's concerns, given JIPMER's assurance that emergency services would continue during the holiday.
"Emergency surgeries will be undertaken, and services will run as usual. The apprehensions of the petitioner do not hold," stated the Madras High Court. The PIL, filed by R Raja from Pondicherry, argued against the closure mandated by the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions until 2:30 pm on January 22.
(With inputs from PTI)
