The Supreme Court on Friday declined to intervene in the Uttar Pradesh government?s drive of installing statues of chief minister Mayawati, Dalit leaders and the BSP elephant symbol, presently on in Noida near Delhi.
?If a democratically elected government decides to do something without misappropriating public money, there is little courts can do,? the bench headed by chief justice KG Balakrishnan said.
While refusing to interfere in the installation of statues being carried out opposite Sector 15A of Noida, the court said it was a decision which had the approval of the state Cabinet.
?If it has been approved by the government, this court cannot interfere,? the bench replied as the petitioner, advocate Ravi Kant, sought a direction for maintaining status quo on the works being carried out at Noida.
Not inclined to entertain the application by Kant, the bench pointed out that it should have been filed before the Allahabad High Court where petitions relating to the installation of statues have already been filed. ?You should have gone to the high court where some more petitions relating to it (installation of statues) are going on,? the bench told the petitioner.
On June 29, Kant had challenged the statue-installation drive undertaken by the Mayawati government at memorials and public parks in UP.
Making an urgent mention on Friday, Kant alleged that the time granted to the state to file replies was being used to speed up installation work.
The state government proposes to install statues of BSP leaders Mayawati and party founder Kanshi Ram in a 4-km long walled area along the banks of the Yamuna in Noida.