SC says no to stalling Maya’s statue plan

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stall Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati’s plans for the installation of statues in the state. Mayawati’s plans to spend crores to erect statues of her mentor Kanshi Ram and her own, and pillars depicting the party’s poll symbol, the elephant, all over the cash-crunched, crime and corruption saddled state.

The SC observed that it could not interfere with the state cabinet’s decision and refused to stall the installation of her statue at the IT hub Noida. “If it has been approved by the government, this court cannot interfere,” a bench headed by chief justice KG Balakrishnan said.

“Come to us only if there are allegations of corruption, or misappropriation of funds,” the judges told petitioner and lawyer Ravi Kant. Kant had contended that Mayawati had spent about Rs2,000 crore from the state exchequer on the statues. The judges told Kant that he should have first moved the high court, which is dealing with similar petitions.