Relief for Mayawati, SC Disposes Of 2009 PIL Against Installation Of Statues

The apex court disposed of the petition filed by two lawyers -- Ravi Kant and Sukumar.

New Delhi:In a relief to BSP supremo Mayawati, the Supreme Court on Wednesday disposed of a 2009 petition seeking a direction for a probe into the alleged spending of more than Rs 2,000 crore from the Uttar Pradesh government's budget on installing elephant statutes and personal glorification, when she was the chief minister of the state.

The matter came up before a bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma. The bench noted that the Election Commission (EC) has already issued guidelines on the issue and that a stay on the installation of the statues cannot be granted as those have already been installed. The bench observed that most of the prayers in the petition had become infructuous.

The apex court disposed of the petition filed by two lawyers -- Ravi Kant and Sukumar. The plea had alleged that a total amount of about Rs 2,000 crore was used from the state's budget for 2008-09 and 2009-10, when Mayawati was the chief minister, for installing her statues and the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) poll symbol -- elephant -- at different places.

The plea claimed that the installation of 60 elephant statues at the cost of Rs 52.2 crore was not only waste of public money but also contrary to circulars issued by the EC.

Mayawati, in April 2019, justifying her decision, had told the top court that the construction of her life-size statues and the BSP's poll symbol at various places in Uttar Pradesh during her tenure as the state's chief minister represented the "will of the people".

She had told the court that even the Congress, in the past, installed statues of its leaders, and had also referred to recent instances of installation of statues by state governments, including a statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, known as the "Statue of Unity", in Gujarat.