The high court here rapped social activist Anna Hazare’s team on Friday for seeking exemption in payment of rental fee for government-owned grounds to stage his three-day hunger strike-cum-rally, scheduled from Tuesday, against the government’s Lok Pal Bill.
The bench of judges P B Majmudar and Mridula Bhatkar told the petitioners to deposit the money if they wanted the preferred venue and also questioned the need for parallel canvassing when Parliament was scheduled to debate the Bill next week.
Asked judge Majmudar, “How is the country's interest involved? We are a democratic set-up. We have elected a government. Wouldn't your agitation interfere in the functioning of Parliament? The bill will be debated in Parliament, where our elected representatives will plead our case.”
The bench also told Hazare’s India Against Corruption forum that the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the agency owning the grounds in question, could not be compelled to give it to them for their three-day protest.
The bench said the court could not come to the conclusion that IAC was the sort of body that would be considered by the MMRDA for subsidy. The court refused to interfere in the matter, saying it could not so ask the agency. Or to decide if the agitation was in the public and national interest or not.
“It is not judiciable. If we pass an order allowing your petition, then we will be interfering with the functioning of Parliament,” the judges said.
In his reaction, Hazare said his representatives in Mumbai should not have gone to court. “I would have told them don’t go, we will manage on our own. The court is not the right place to bring this up. If they don't give us any venue, I will fast in jail.” He also said people had come forward with donations to facilitate payment for booking the MMRDA grounds.
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The HC bench also said: “We can’t allow parallel canvassing when Parliament is seized with debate on the Bill. You can propagate (your views) sitting at home. Till now the Bill has not been passed. No one knows what form and what features it will have. Is public debate permissible at this stage?”
The bench, however, did ask the Maharashtra government to inform whether it was ready to open the gates at Azad Maidan, the option available for holding the fast from Tuesday, to allow Team Anna access to a larger area.