16 Jan 2024 4:22 PM GMT
In a plea filed against erection of the statue of former Suttur Seer Late Shri Jagatguru Shivarathri Rajendra Mahaswamiji at Gun House Circle, Mysuru, the Supreme Court on January 12 granted interim relief in favor of petitioner-Subramanya, staying the unveiling of the statue.
The plea, filed in the nature of a Public Interest Litigation, assailed a Karnataka High Court order of January 2, 2024, which denied interim relief against unveiling of the statue. The High Court had observed that though the petitioners vehemently claimed that the statue was to be unveiled on January 4, no material was shown to support the contention.
After hearing the submissions, the Supreme Court Bench, comprising Justices BR Gavai, Prashant Kumar Mishra and Sandeep Mehta, prima facie found that the erection of the statue in a public place was contrary to the court's earlier order dated January 18, 2013 in Union of India v. State of Gujarat.
As per the above order, government of States and/or Union Territories shall not grant permission for installation of any statue or construction of any structure in public roads, pavements, sideways and other public utility places.
Accordingly, the unveiling of the statue has been stayed until further orders. The matter is next listed for consideration on January 22, 2024.
Reportedly, the statue of Late Shri Jagatguru Shivarathri Rajendra Mahaswamiji was erected at Gun House Circle (near Mysore Palace) amidst objections from members of the Urs community, who claim that erection of the statue is against Supreme Court's orders and has been done illegally.
Counsels for petitioner: Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu; AOR M/s Dharmaprabhas Law Associates; Advocates Chandrashekhar A. Chakalabbi, SK Pandey, Awanish Kumar, Anshul Rai, Abhinav Garg, and Nagendra Nayak
Case Title: Subramanya v. The State of Karnataka, Special Leave to Appeal (C) No. 928/2024