The Bombay Excessive Court docket on Sunday dismissed a public curiosity litigation difficult a Maharashtra authorities notification that designated January 22 as a public vacation to mark the consecration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Stay Regulation reported.
A division bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale, which heard the case throughout a particular sitting, stated that declaring holidays lies inside the realm of the federal government. The judges described the petition as “completely frivolous” and stated that it was a “publicity curiosity litigation”, in keeping with Bar and Bench.
The petition was filed by legislation college students Shivangi Agarwal, Satyajeet Salve, Vedant Agrawal and Khushi Bangia. They contended that declaring a public vacation for a non secular occasion contradicted the precept of secularism enshrined within the Structure. The petitioners additionally argued that the facility to declare public holidays lies with the Centre, and never state governments.
Nonetheless, Advocate Normal Birendra Saraf, representing the Maharashtra authorities, argued that permitting residents to observe their non secular beliefs couldn’t be termed as a violation of the precept of secularism. He additionally stated that declaring a vacation is a matter of coverage, and that courts shouldn’t intrude with it.
The court docket stated that the petitioners did not make out a case that declaring the vacation was an arbitrary train of energy. The judges additionally criticised the petitioners for questioning the rationale of the Supreme Court docket judgement that paved the best way for the temple in Ayodhya to be constructed.
“Our judicial conscience is shocked once we see such statements on Supreme Court docket,” the court docket stated, in keeping with Bar and Bench.
The bench avoided imposing prices on the petitioners however stated it hoped that they’d be “extra cautious when showing in individual”.
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