The lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Saturday dismissed the public interest litigation (PIl) seeking mandamus against the state government to permit people and saints to perform “84-kosi parikrama” starting from Makhoura (Basti district) and culminating at the same place from August 25 to September 13.
The bench, comprising Justice laxmi Kanta Mohapatra and Justice DK Upadhyay, issued the aforesaid directive on the PIl filed by local lawyer Mahesh Gupta against the order of the state government restraining people/saints to perform “84-kosi parikrama”. Appearing on behalf of petitioner, counsel Dinesh Chandra Chopra submitted before the court that it was a matter of religious ritual and one should not be refrained from performing the same. The counsel added that retraining saints from performing ‘parikrama’ would hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindu community.
Appearing on behalf of the state government, Additional Advocate General Bulbul Godiyal, while opposing the PIl, contended that the present “84-kosi parikrama” was not a part of Hindu rituals and the same was never performed by saints in the past 50 years. She informed the court that as there was possibilities of law and order disturbance in the region, the state government had put a ban on the proposed parikrama. She added that the parikrama could also pose a threat to maintaining status quo at the disputed site in Ayodhya as ordered by the Supreme Court. The court observed: “There is nothing in the writ petition to show that the “84-kosi parikrama” was a religious custom followed at the place mentioned above. In the absence of any such material showing that such a parikrama proposed to be undertaken was a part of religious custom, no such direction could be issued.”
lAWYERS BOYCOTT JUDICIAl WORK:
The boycott of judicial work in the state capital continued for the second day on Saturday as lawyers pressed their demand to shift territorial jurisdiction of Kanpur, Bareilly and Moradabad divisions from the Allahabad High Court to the lucknow bench. The local lawyers started the agitation in support of their demand and build pressure on the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court as well as Central and the state governments.
The lawyers’ association of various courts abstained from judicial functioning on the second day. The lawyers demanded implementation of the Jaswant Singh Commission report. In 1981, the state government recommended bifurcation of few districts from Allahabad High Court and relocating them to the lucknow bench for the convenience of litigants. Following it, in the same year, the Central government constituted the Jaswant Singh Commission to submit its finding on government proposal of relocating and the need for creation of another bench in western UP. The commission recommended creation of the Allahabad High Court’s another bench at Agra and also relocation of Bareilly and Moradabad region to the lucknow bench.