Surya Namaskar in schools: HC dismisses petition against order
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan high court on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by the Rajasthan Muslim Forum challenging the Rajasthan government’s recent order that mandated Surya Namaskar during the assembly at every schools, said the official familiar with the matter.
“The forum’s petition was dismissed by the court due to technical issues that the forum is not a registered organization and therefore they cannot file such a petition as an organisation, as per the rules,” said Saadat Ali, the advocate for the forum.
The HC’s order read, “The petitioners wants to withdraw this writ petition with liberty to file a fresh writ petition. The petition is dismissed accordingly with liberty as aforesaid.”
The state secondary education board on January 23 ordered all the government schools to organise Surya Namaskar on the day of Surya Saptami on Thursday. The order also further mandated the schools to make it regular practice for all the students during the assembly as the “sunlight is the best source of Vitamin D which will
good for the students’ health.”
Meanwhile, challenging the government’s decision, two petitions were lodged in the high court on Monday ahead of the Thursday’s Surya Namaskar programme in which the government also “committed to make a world record” as per the order.
While the Muslim forum has lodged a petition as an organisation, an advocate of Qashif Zubairi also filed a private petition seeking a ban on the order that “mandates Surya Namaskar”.
Though the forum’s petition was dismissed due to technical issues, the court gave another date for the hearing of Qashif’s petition on February 20.
However, responding to the development, the general secretary of the forum and also one of the petitioners Muhammed
Nazimuddin said, “There is neither point of filing a fresh petition now nor having the next hearing date as the Surya Namaskar programme will be conducted tomorrow (February 15) without any objection. The government cannot force someone to do it.”
Education minister Madan Dilawar said, “Everyone knows that Sun God gives light to everyone, removes darkness from everyone’s life and its light protects us from many diseases. Worshipping him is important. It’s just a worship.”
“The honourable high court also knows that the Sun doesn’t discriminate against anyone and it is important to bow down to the one who is giving life to everyone.. We will perform Surya Namaskar early tomorrow morning,” he added.