Hyderabad: The Telangana high court has cleared the way for the installation of a statue of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Picket Public Gardens in the Cantonment area. The court dismissed a PIL that challenged the statue’s installation, which had raised concerns about its impact on the area’s greenery and serene environment.
The statue will be unveiled by defence minister Rajnath Singh as part of the birth centenary celebrations of the late prime minister.
The PIL was filed by social activist Jetty Umeshwar Rao, who argued that the installation violated Supreme Court guidelines prohibiting statues in the middle of roads and parks. Rao’s counsel, Ch Venu Kumar, claimed that the decision to instal the statue lacked approval from the director of defence estates and that erecting statues was not within the Cantonment board’s responsibilities. “The functions of a Cantonment board are clear and defined and erection of statues is not one among them,” he said.
In a previous hearing, deputy solicitor general Gadi Praveen Kumar questioned the petition’s validity, and on Wednesday, when the case resumed, the petitioner’s counsel reiterated concerns that political rallies at the statue would harm the park’s greenery.
However, additional solicitor general B Narasimha Sarma argued that the statue had already been erected and was set for unveiling. He assured the court that the park’s 13-acre area would be protected with a compound wall, and the greenery would be maintained. “Actually, it was scheduled to be inaugurated on Dec 28 but it could not be done due to the mourning days on account of the demise of former prime minister Manmohan Singh,” he said.
Sarma emphasised that the Supreme Court’s ruling, which the petitioner cited, only applied to religious structures, not statues of national leaders.
The bench dismissed the petition, concluding that the Cantonment board’s responsibilities need not be strictly outlined in the rule book and that no laws were violated in the installation of the statue.
