Stung by reports that the Mayawati government had, in violation of its undertaking to the Supreme Court, not halted construction at sites where statues of Dalit leaders are coming up, the court on Friday spewed fire and gave the state six hours to vacate the locations. The UP government's move to press ahead with work on its memorial projects caught the Supreme Court's attention and it said it was not going to accept any more declarations and submissions as UP had a terrible record of not adhering to its promises, even citing the demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992. It ordered a complete stop on all kinds of activity, be it construction, repair or maintenance. Taking suo motu cognizance of reports in The Times of India and The Hindu, a Bench comprising Justices B N Agrawal and Aftab Alam said if these were proved correct, then the UP government "is playing with fire". TOI was the first to report the violations on September 10. Repeated pleas on behalf of UP by senior advocate Harish Salve and additional advocate general Shail K Dwivedi to defer the hearing till Monday and fresh assurances that the "stop work" undertaking would be scrupulously adhered to did not cut any ice with the Bench. It gave just six hours to the state machinery to move the entire work force out of the memorial projects. The SC move is a blow to BSP leader Mayawati as it further embroils her in conflict with the apex court. Though BSP's political argument that a plethora of projects named after the Gandhi family did not raise the same uproar is intended to appeal to its own base, the party will not endear itself to the upper castes it successfully wooed in the April 2007 assembly elections. The grandiose plans to build memorials to Dalit icons like her mentor Kanshi Ram and herself have seen the opposition level the charge of public money being spent on personal glorification. It has given the Opposition an opportunity to argue that the UP government was spending on statues instead of catering to urgent issues like drought. On Friday, the SC made plain why it was not ready to accept any further assurances from the state. Accusing UP of "playing hide and seek with the court", the Bench referred to the failure of then chief minister Kalyan Singh to live up to the undertaking to protect the Babri Masjid disputed structure at Ayodhya leading to its demolition by a communal mob on December 6, 1992. "This is not the first time the state of UP has breached its undertaking in the Supreme Court," the Bench said, asking Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam to assist the court in the matter as an amicus curiae. It asked the chief secretary of the state to file a detailed affidavit by September 17 "in unambiguous terms" as to the nature of work that was alleged to have been carried out at the memorials despite its September 8 "stop work" undertaking and posted the matter for further hearing on September 18. At the same time, it also asked the newspapers and the TV channel to file affidavits by September 17 substantiating the allegations made in their news reports about the alleged breach of undertaking by the state. "Normally the court does not react to press reports. But, if it is repeatedly reported with facts and figures, then we have to take cognizance, for the prestige of the institution is supreme," it said. TOI was the first to report on September 10 about the breach of undertaking by the state as workers were seen cutting stones and engaged in similar activities at Ambedkar Udyan, Kanshi Ram Sanskritik Maidan, Kanshi Ram Smarak and at Ramabai-Ambedkar Rally Sthal. It was followed by other newspapers. The state had issued a press release on Thursday denying the allegations. The Bench recalled that during the hearing on the matter on September 8, senior advocate Satish Chandra Mishra, who appeared for the UP government, was told that the court was inclined to stay the ongoing work, even maintenance and repairs, but the counsel gave a clear undertaking that everything would be stopped. "This is a serious matter. You cannot play hide and seek with the court," the Bench said. Its anger was fuelled by petitioner `Gomti Nagar Jan Kalyan Maha Samiti' counsel, senior advocate A M Singhvi, who said: "Who will guard the guards? We are filing a contempt petition against the state by Monday." The petitioner had approached the SC through counsel C D Singh alleging that all rules and regulations were being thrown to winds in demolishing old buildings in Lucknow to make way for memorials and installation of statues. With Solicitor General Subramaniam and Singhvi arguing in unison that sanctity of undertakings before the SC should be upheld scrupulously and fastidiously, the Bench wanted to know what the Centre proposed to do when a state government did not adhere to an undertaking before the apex court. The court had on September 8 accepted the undertaking from the state government while hearing an application filed by one Mithilesh Kumar Singh, whose contention was identical to that of the NGO.
