NEW DELHI: A Supreme Court bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Prashant Kumar Mishra on Monday rejected the Tamil Nadu govt’s plea to install a bronze statue of former CM Karunanidhi in Tirunelveli district.“It is not permitted. Why are you using public funds for glorifying your former leaders,” the bench said during a brief hearing. Senior advocate P Wilson, appearing for the state, told the bench that the court should clarify that the arch can be allowed as it was not challenged and Rs 30 lakh had already been spent on it. But the court refused to get into the issue and dismissed the state’s challenge to a Madras high court order.The HC had said the govt cannot issue orders granting permission to install statues in public places and had said that formation of a ‘Leaders Park’ would be of much benefit to the youth of this country, as they can learn about their ideas and ideologies.
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“Instead of making concrete efforts for the formation of a ‘Leaders Park’, the govt cannot issue orders granting permission to install statues in public places. On account of heavy traffic congestion and other mitigating factors, the general public is put to hardship in the event of granting such permissions…,” it had said.“When Supreme Court has passed an order not to grant any permission to install statues in public places, the state govt cannot pass any orders granting any such permission,” Madras HC had said.
