Ambedkar Park: petitioner takes back plea, curbs on work lifted

The counsel for UP Government informed a Bench comprising Justices H K Sema and Markandeya Katju that one of the petitions, out of a batch of about seven-eight cases before the HC, had been withdrawn. The said petitioner had opposed the UP Government’s decision to carry out demolitions or new constructions in Ambedkar Park under the new Master Plan brought out by the state Government.

Acting on this submission, the SC ordered that all interim orders passed in the petition before the apex court stood “discharged”.

The Mayawati Government had triggered a controversy by changing the land use of 35-acre of Bhim Rao Ambedkar Park and starting construction activities for setting up Kanshi Ram Research Institute in the green area. Following this, a group of residents moved the High Court, which in turn ordered the state Government to maintain status quo on construction activities.

In a subsequent hearing, the court even stayed the Allahabad High Court order of 2007, which had imposed a total ban on the state from carrying out any such construction or demolition activity with regard to Government buildings.