New Delhi, Sep 17 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh government Thursday tendered an apology to the Supreme Court for a possible transgression of its Sep 8 order asking the government to halt further construction at various Dalit leaders’ memorial sites in Lucknow.
“It is respectfully submitted that if any transgression has occurred, I tender the most profuse apology for the same and humbly submit that the same was entirely unintended,” state Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta stated in an affidavit.

The top bureaucrat filed his reply to the apex court’s Sep 11 notice, which had asked him to explain why contempt of court proceeding should not be launched against him for violation of its orders in the state.

Gupta said the apex court’s order could have been possibly violated because of confusion about the sites where construction was stayed and where it was not.

“At the outset, I submit that there has been some degree of confusion as to the properties that would be covered by the various orders and the undertakings (given by the government),” said the chief secretary.

Appearing for the state government, Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary and senior advocate Satish Chandra Mishra had given an oral undertaking to the apex court Sep 8 that the state government would stop construction of a host of memorials dedicated to Chief Minister Mayawati, besides her political mentors and the party’s poll symbol elephant.

The construction activity has been challenged in various courts.

However, the chief secretary in his affidavit asserted that a section of the media, including the Times of India, the Hindu and the NDTV, that carried reports about the violation of the apex court’s orders, were swayed more by “enthusiasm rather than accuracy.”

The media houses in their affidavits to the court stood by the authenticity of their reports.