UP seeks time to file report on CAA hoardings in HC

PRAYAGRAJ: The Uttar Pradesh (UP) government on Monday moved an application before the Allahabad high court (HC) seeking more time to file a compliance report in connection with the court’s order to immediately remove hoardings containing the names, photos and addresses of those who purportedly took part in the December anti-citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests in Lucknow.

The Monday’s application was filed before the court’s registrar general. Additional advocate general Neeraj Tripathi said the state government’s main thrust of the argument in its plea was that its special leave petition (SLP) against the High Court’s March 9 order was pending before the Supreme Court (SC) and the apex court had referred it to a larger bench. The state government has sought more time for filing the compliance report till the matter was finally adjudicated by the SC, said Tripathi.

On March 5, the UP government put up several hoardings across Lucknow, identifying those accused of violence during the anti-caa protests that took place last December.

The accused were also asked to pay for the damage to public and private properties within a stipulated time or have their assets seized by the district administration.

On March 7, the HC registered a suo motu (on its own) public interest litigation (PIL) on the matter. The court pulled up the UP government on the following day for putting up these hoardings and termed it an “insult of the State and its public”, “highly unjust”’ and an “encroachment” on the personal liberty of the individuals.

The High Court bench of chief justice Govind Mathur and justice Ramesh Sinha on March 9 had ruled that the state government’s action of putting up banners at various places in the state capital of Lucknow with personal details of alleged anti-caa protestors amounted to infringement of the individuals’ privacy.

Privacy is an intrinsic part of right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution and the actions of the state government amount to an unwarranted interference, it said, directing the district magistrate, Lucknow and the commissioner of police, Lucknow to remove the banners immediately and submit a compliance report to the court on or before March 16.

The state had appealed to the SC against the High Court order on March 11.