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High court refuses to stay Mahajan's bash

The Delhi high court today declined to stay the celebrations organised by the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan at the protected deer park in south Delhi to mark the completion of one year in office by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition.

But it directed the government not to cause any inconvenience to the people who visit the park.

A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Devinder Gupta and Justice K S Gupta asked the Delhi Development Authority to produce a map of the park at the next hearing on March 18 showing the two acres that do not fall in the protected zone and can be used for cultural purposes.

The DDA was also asked to produce the letter of sanction given to the information and broadcasting ministry for holding the cultural extravaganza on Friday, March 19.

The bench asked the central government and the DDA to file affidavits by tomorrow giving full details of their plans for the function and make available the order passed by the Archaeological Survey of India giving a go-ahead to the celebrations.

The directions came after counsel for the petitioners said the government was organising the function in the deer park and district park, which have been declared protected areas.

The government countered this, saying two acres of land are available where the function can be organised without causing any damage to the park.

The government was represented by Additional Solicitor-General Kirti Rawal and standing counsel Jayant Bhushan.

The petitioners said the court had granted a stay in 1996 when a cultural function was to be organised at the park and so this particular function should also be disallowed.

The bench issued show-cause notices to the Union ministries of environment and information & broadcasting, the Delhi Development Authority, and the lieutenant governor of Delhi and directed them to file replies by tomorrow.

The court was hearing two public-interest petitions filed by several residents of Hauz Khas, the south Delhi locality which houses the two parks.

The petitioners challenged the holding of the function at the parks, saying it would damage the Hauz Khas monument and the parks and inconvenience local residents.

Local Congress MLA Kiran Walia was also present in the court.

Saying that the government should ensure that the general public, who visit the parks every morning for walks, is not troubled, the court told it not to create any barrier for them.

The bench noted that in a previous case, the DDA had stated that it would bar exploitation of the park for commercial purposes and earmark two acres out of the total 375 for cultural functions and international shows. The court had accepted the DDA's stand in its order of January 8, 1996.

In view of this, the court sought a map of the park before passing its final order.

UNI

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