New Delhi, Dec 1 (IANS) The Supreme Court Tuesday again denied Uttar Pradesh government permission to take up any maintenance work at various memorials to Dalit leaders in Lucknow and to ready the sprawling Ambedkar Park for B.R. Ambedkar’s death anniversary Dec 6.
A bench of Justice H.S. Bedi and Justice P.S. Thakur denied the relief to the state government, saying that its plea for taking up maintenance and cleaning work at the site to observe Ambedkar’s death anniversary cannot be acceded to as petitioner Mithilesh Kumar Singh has not filed his response.

The bench slated the next hearing Jan 20 and said the Uttar Pradesh government’s plea has now become infructuous.

While denying relief to the Mayawati government, Justice Bedi at one stage also took objection to petitioner counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi’s plea to have another judge, Justice Aftab Alam, too on the bench.

It was the bench of erstwhile Justice B.N. Agrawal and Justice Alam, which had on Sep 8 halted all further construction and maintenance work at various memorials to Dalit leaders in Lucknow.

It was hearing a lawsuit by city resident Mithilesh Kumar Singh, who had challenged the government’s construction spree, building a series of parks and memorials in Lucknow at an estimated cost Rs.26 billion.

Justice Bedi told Singhvi that he was a senior counsel and such a plea from him amounted to expressing lack of confidence in the present bench.