Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS) The Supreme Court Friday suspended its own order that had allowed the Uttar Pradesh government to raze to the ground the sprawling 195-acre Lucknow Jail to pave the way for construction of an ecological park.
A bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan took the decision on a plea by Lucknow resident Sangam Lal Pandey, who contended that the state government had secured the apex court order by concealing facts from it.

Appearing in person, Pandey told the bench, which also included Justice S.B. Sinha, that the state government had come to the apex court challenging an Allahabad High Court ruling, which had stayed the proposed demolition.

In its lawsuit against the high court ruling, the government had asserted that the new jail being built on the outskirts of the city was on the verge of completion, Pandey said.

But the fact is that the new jail was far from complete, he added.

Pandey clarified the facts when the bench said: “What is there to be heard in it? The new jail is already complete.”

As the court proceeded to issue a status quo order, preventing the government from changing the ground situation, state counsel Satish Mishra sought to assure it that the government would not demolish the jail without the court permission.

Accordingly, the court recorded the government’s assurance, implying suspension of its July 8 order.

The apex court on July 8 had allowed the state government to raze the old jail adjacent to the Ambedkar Park in the heart of the city on the condition that the new park, coming up in its place, will not be adorned with statutes of Chief Minister Mayawati, her late political mentor Kanshi Ram and her party’s election symbol elephant.

The state government had told the bench last month that the new jail would be much more spacious than the old one.

The new jail would have the capacity to house up to 4,660 prisoners, while the old one can accommodate at most 2,000-odd inmates, state counsel had told the court.