Court seeks U.P. response to Swamy's plea

The Supreme Court has sought the response of the Uttar Pradesh government to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy's application seeking a direction for removal of restrictions on darshan of Lord Rama at the makeshift temple at Ayodhya.

When the matter came up before a Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and Justice Deepak Verma on Friday, Dr. Swamy said he had been impleaded in the case and that he had filed an affidavit, as directed by the court, seeking certain reliefs. He wanted orders passed at the earliest.

However, the CJI said the court would consider the plea after objections were filed by the State and others, and posted further hearing to August 31.

In his application, Dr. Swamy said: “The crowd of devotees has snowballed over the years and their cash offerings have swelled the bank balance of the account of the U.P. government kept in a public sector bank. But harassment of and inconvenience to the devotees have multiplied, which I myself have experienced.”

He said: “The ingredients of the status quo order do not preclude secular arrangements for proper darshan and worship, as the Allahabad High Court had pointed out. Thus without compromising on the status quo, a new and humane arrangement can be effected.”

The existing arrangements at the site were made in a technical and narrow sense, which bore no nexus to the requirement or scope of status quo, and were violative of the rights to hygiene and human dignity.

Dr. Swamy said the court should examine the ingredients of the status quo requirement and the essentials of religiously tenable worship at the Ramlala temple. He wanted the High Court‘s directions considered and the Statutory Receiver by mandamus directed to adopt the same.