The Supreme Court on Wednesday paved the way for the Mayawati government to demolish the 195-acre Lucknow Central Jail in the heart of Lucknow city for construction of an ecological park.

The UP government's plea was allowed but not before the bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan took a dig at the recent affairs of the Mayawati-led administration. “Will this park too have statues?” asked the bench, which also comprised Justices P Sathasivam and J M Panchal, in a clear reference to the Chief Minister's penchant for placing statutes of BSP founder Kanshi Ram and herself, besides party symbol elephant, at strategic locations across the state.

State’s counsel S C Mishra assuaged any such fears. He sought to assure that while the old jail would be shifted to a new location on the city outskirts, the ecological park would neither have statues nor anybody's memorials.

While seeking the stay by the Allahabad High Court to be vacated, Mishra also tried to convince that the new jail would be much more spacious. “A total of 4,660 prisoners can be housed in the new jail, while the old one had just 2,000-odd prisoners,” he submitted.

On May 14, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court had denied permission to demolish the jail acting on a PIL.