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Taking a very serious note of alleged defiance of court's orders by the Uttar Pradesh government, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Thursday even went to the extent of suggesting that there was breakdown of Constitutional machinery in the state.
Accusing the state government of 'committing repeated violations' of the court's orders, a division bench comprising senior Judge Pradeep Kant and Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, observed in the open court the violation of orders amounting to defiance of the Constitution.
The bench was hearing a pending public interest litigation moved by advocate Sangam Lal Pandey against encroachment on a road and obstructions in a public thoroughfare created on account of construction of a tall boundary wall around a 100-acre eco park named after the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party founder Kanshi Ram.
Despite the court's specific orders to the state government to ensure that the road behind the proposed park not be encroached to further expand the size of the huge park, the state authorities had begun to build a second boundary wall covering a part of the road.
Refuting the charge of encroachment, UP government chief standing counsel, however, claimed that the government was simply building a foot-path.
Meanwhile, posing a query to senior advocate R N Trivedi, who was present in the court in connection with another matter, Justice Pradeep Kant asked, "Don't you think that if a government were repeatedly flouting orders of the court, we could assume that it is not functioning as per the Constitution?"
According to the petitioner, "Justice Kant even asked Trivedi in the open court whether the prevailing scenario merited action under Article 356."
Since the public works department was undertaking the construction work, the bench summoned PWD engineer-in-chief T Ram before the court on February 18 to explain why the work has continued in areas where the court had specifically ordered suspension of all construction activity.