What is the policy framework for declaring a public holiday, asks SC
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:19.01.2021
What is the policy framework under which the Union government declares a public holiday, the Supreme Court asked on Monday after a PIL complained that the Centre and state governments arbitrarily notified public holidays mainly to appease a section of the population.
The petitioner, ‘All India Shiromani Singh Sabha’, through senior advocate Vikas Singh said while the birth anniversaries of B R Ambedkar and Prophet Muhammad have been declared as public holidays by the Union government, the birthday of Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Sikh guru, has been arbitrarily declared merely as a restricted holiday.
A bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and Justices L N Rao and Vineet Saran asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to respond to the PIL.
Mehta said these were policy decisions and he would take instructions and respond to the PIL. The SC gave the Centre 10 days to file its affidavit.
The PIL petitioner said, “In the absence of any guiding principle or any authority regarding declaration of gazetted/public holidays in India, the executive at the behest of political groups, who are in power/government, declare holidays at their whims and fancies, serving the political purpose of appeasement of a particular section of the public.”
Full report on www.toi.in
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