New Delhi: ANI reported that the Supreme Court of India had rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking direction that the new Parliament building should be inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu on May 28.
After the vacation bench of Justices JK Maheshwari and PS Narasimha did not entertain the PIL, the petitioner sought to withdraw the litigation. The court told the petitioner Adv. Jaya Sukin, “We do not understand why you come with such petitions but we are not interested in entertaining it under Article 32”.
In the PIL, the petitioner said that the Lok Sabha Secretariat violated the Constitution by not inviting the President for the inauguration. The Lok Sabha Secretariat, Union Home Affairs, and Ministry of Law and Justice were made parties to the case.
The plea said that the decision was illegal, arbitrary, high-handed, whimsical and unfair, an abuse of authority and against the principles of natural justice.
The inauguration of the new Parliament building has become of a point of contention between the government and the opposition. Twenty one opposition parties had announced that they would not take part in the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building. They argue that the nominal head of the country, the President, must inaugurate the building rather than the Prime Minister of India.
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, will inaugurate the new Parliament building on May 28. The ceremony will be marked by the installation of the Sengol near the Speaker’s seat. The Sengol is a symbol of transfer of power, followed by the Chola kingdom. When the British left India, the Sengol was handed to the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru as mark of transfer of power.
However, the Sengol had since been forgotten and was lying at the Allahabad Museum. The inclusion of the golden scepter in the inauguration ceremony is a sign of India regaining its age old heritage, power, and justice.
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