The Centre and Delhi Police on Thursday told the Supreme Court that the decision to denotify Jantar Mantar as a protest site was not prompted by the court’s October 9 observations on the need to identify alternative venues for demonstrations, but followed recommendations made by a committee constituted by the Union home ministry much earlier.
A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the authorities on a petition challenging the denotification, saying it would examine whether the decision followed primarily from the court’s observations or was based on an independent assessment of the site’s suitability. “The committee was constituted long before and the committee gave its report, which led to action. Meanwhile, in the top court, senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for petitioner and advocate Swaty Singh, pressed for an urgent order restoring Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site, saying the authorities had sought to justify the decision by referring to the Supreme Court ’s observations.
Mehta said the October 9 observations of the court were not the basis for the denotification . To be sure, the SG’s submission came two days after Delhi Police told the Delhi high court on Tuesday that Jantar Mantar was denotified as a designated protest site in view of the Supreme Court’s October 9 order calling for a reconsideration of Delhi’s decades-old arrangement for holding demonstrations. The challenge comes days after the Supreme Court, on October 9, asked Delhi authorities to identify a venue that would allow citizens to hold peaceful demonstrations without compromising public safety, access to essential services or the interests of other residents.
There are reasons recorded,” he told the bench. “We (Delhi Police) (denotified) Jantar Mantar (as a protest site) after Supreme Court’s order dated October 9,” additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma, appearing for the police, told a bench of Justice Amit Mahajan while opposing a plea by Indian Youth Congress president Uday Bhanu Chib challenging the denial of permission to hold a protest seeking chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar ’s resignation.
