'Belatedly Approached Court': Calcutta High Court Dismisses PIL Against Centre's Decision To Exclude WB Gov's Netaji Tableau For Republic Day

The Calcutta High Court on Monday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed against the decision of the Centre to reject the tableau of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose as proposed by the West Bengal government for the ensuing Republic Day parade. 

The PIL filed by advocate Ramaprasad Sarkar sought the Court's interference to issue a direction to the Central Government to permit the State of West Bengal Tableau of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in the ensuing Republic Day parade scheduled to take place on January 26, 2022. 

A Bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj expressed reservations to the delayed filing of the PIL and accordingly observed, 

"..the writ petitioner has belatedly approached this Court. As the Republic Day celebration is day after tomorrow, therefore, at this stage, no effective direction can be issued. Hence, no case for interference in the present writ petition is made out which is accordingly dismissed."

The Bench further took note of the various defects in the filing of the instant PIL as pointed out by the Additional Solicitor General Y.J. Dastoor while dismissing the PIL. 

Arguments

During the proceedings, the petitioner apprised the Bench that this year 125th birth anniversary celebration of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is supposed to take place and that the Central Government has wrongly rejected the West Bengal Tableau for Republic Day parade theme on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Indian National Army without assigning any reason. 

On the other hand, Additional Solicitor General Y.J. Dastoor appearing for the Centre contended that the instant petition is not maintainable as Rule 20 of the Rules of High Court at Calcutta relating to an application under Article 226 of the Constitution has not been complied with as no demand of justice has been made by the petitioner before filing the instant petition.

The ASG further submitted that the petitioner has furnished an incorrect affidavit mentioning that the facts stated in the petition are true to his knowledge even though the PIL has been filed based upon the newspaper cuttings and information received therefrom. 

Opining further, the ASG further stated that although Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has been ignored by the earlier Governments however the present Government is treating Netaji as an icon and recognizing contribution in hastening the process of Independence. The Court was further informed that January 23, the birth anniversary of Netaji has already been declared "Parakram Diwas" to honour Netaji and further that the Centre has proposed to celebrate the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji for a week from January 23 to January 30, 2022. 

He further submitted that a hologram of Netaji has been put up at the India Gate which will be replaced by a statue of Netaji in August 2022. He has also submitted that so far as reasons for rejection are concerned, if the State wants, the same can be duly supplied by the Centre and that the decision to exclude a Tableau is taken as per the existing rules. 

Furthermore, Advocate General S.N. Mookherjee apprised the Bench that he has no instruction as to whether the reasons for rejection have been communicated to the State of West Bengal.

Case Title: Rama Prasad Sarkar v. Union of India 

Citation: 2022 LiveLaw (Cal) 13. 

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