A day after it warned the Mayawati government not to ?play politics? with the court, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed initiation of contempt proceedings against the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary for ?flagrant? violation of its orders to stop work on construction of statues and memorials.
It even warned the state that Central forces could be deployed at the sites if work continued.
At one stage, the Bench of Justices BN Agrawal and Aftab Alam wondered whether the chief secretary could be sent to jail if construction work did not stop.
?We have come to the conclusion that there is flagrant violation of our orders. If you still violate our orders, the ball will be in the hands of the Central government? to deploy forces, said the Bench.
The Bench issued notice to chief secretary Atul Kumar Gupta to show cause why contempt action should not be taken against him for violation of the court order. He was directed to appear in person in court on November 4.
The Bench initiated contempt proceedings on the ground that the September 8 undertaking by the chief secretary and the September 11 court order on stoppage of construction activity at the sites had been flouted.