In another legal setback to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati,the Supreme Court on Monday rejected her plea for quashing a PIL filed against her in the Taj Corridor scandal. Instead,a Bench comprising Justice B S Sirpurkar and Justice B Sudershan Reddy asked the Uttar Pradesh government to approach the High Court on the issue of maintainability of the PIL. In her petition,Mayawati had prayed for quashing the PIL in the Allahabad High Court on the grounds that opposition parties could try to destabilise her government on the issue. The Mayawati government had filed the appeal challenging the Allahabad HC decision to admit a PIL filed by Kamlesh Verma and two others,who challenged the refusal of the then UP governor T V Rajeswar to grant sanction to the CBI to prosecute Mayawati in the matter. The Taj Corridor scam pertains to a project for construction of a massive shopping mall and recreational centres near the Taj. The cost of the project was to be borne by the public exchequer,and rules and regulations were given a go-by while finalising the project. "What the Opposition is going to demand to destabilise the government,we are not bothered," the court said in response to the contention of the counsel that the PIL could destabilise the government. The counsel had pleaded that if the PIL was allowed to be heard,it would only give the Opposition an excuse to demand her government's resignation. "Destabilisation,why should we go into all those things? the Bench asked. The court also refused to accept the UP government's argument that the case was politically motivated,pointing out that four similar petitions on the same issue were earlier dismissed by the court. Earlier,on November 6,the court had refused to hear the matter out of turn. In her petition,Mayawati had questioned the locus standi of the petitioners as well as the authority of the High Court to entertain the PIL. She contended that only the CBI was entitled to question the decisions of the governor or the CBI court,and the agency had chosen not to do so.
