New Delhi: In a political victory for Uttar
Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the Supreme Court today gave
the go ahead for creation of a district carved out of Amethi
Lok Sabha Constituency represented by Rahul Gandhi and named
after Dalit icon Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj.
The apex court decision came when it quashed the
Allahabad High Court`s interim order staying the creation of
Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Nagar district by renaming Amethi,
a pocketborough of the Gandhi-Nehru family and a Congress
stronghold.
The issue was decided in favour of the Mayawati
government on the ground that an earlier petition challenging
its decision was dismissed by the same High Court on August
11.
A bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and H L
Gokhale said that the High Court bench which passed the
interim order on August 18 should have taken into account the
order of August 11 of its own bench.
"Judicial propriety demanded that the High Court
should have considered the final judgement of August 11. It
could not have taken a different stand," the bench said.
Significantly, another division bench of the high court
comprising Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Satish Chandra
had dismissed a petition on August 11 challenging the creation
of the new district.
The Uttar Pradesh government had moved the apex court
challenging the August 18 interim order of the Lucknow Bench
of the High Court which stayed restoration of the new district
till March 31 next year or till further orders.
The state government had appealed against the order
which had restrained the operation, implementation and
execution of a July 1 notification issued by UP government
creating Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar district.
The High Court had on August 18 passed the order on
the petition filed by one Manoj Kumar Rastogi and two others
seeking quashing of the July 1 notification in view of the
specific embargo placed through an earlier notification that
no change in the boundaries that impedes ongoing census should
take place.
They had also sought a direction for restoring the
boundaries of Sultanpur and Rae Bareli districts prior to July
1 notification.
The proposed Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar district
had within its boundaries five tehsils of Sultanpur and Rae
Bareli districts which form part of Amethi constituency.
Chief Minister Mayawati had ordered formation of
Chatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Nagar district on May 21, 2003 but
following a change of guard her arch political rival Mulayam
Singh Yadav had scrapped it on November 23 the same year.
In December 2003, a lawyer of Amethi, Uma Shankar
Pandey, had challenged the order scrapping the formation of
the district in the High Court.
Senior advocates P P Rao, Satish Chandra Mishra along
with Uttar Pradesh government`s Additional Advocate General
Shail Kumar Dwivedi, argued that the June 1, 2010 notification
was in furtherance to the 2003 order when it was decided to
create a new district out of Amethi.
They submitted that the notification was not coming in
the way of the ongoing census and urged for restoring the
position of 2003.
The state government submitted that if the bench which
stayed the creation of new district was of the view that the
August 11 decision was wrong, it should have referred it to
a larger bench instead of passing its own order.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, appearing for the
Registrar of Census, opposed the state government`s appeal.
The bench referred the matter back to the High Court to
decide on the issue on legal points without being influenced
by its order.
PTI
