MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras High court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking to direct the Government to declare October 17 and October 19 as national holidays to facilitate people working in government and non-government sector to have peaceful Deepavali celebrations this year. A division bench comprising Justices JM Venugopal and Abdul Quddhose dismissed the petition on the ground that the court could not interfere on the government’s policy decision making process.
Petitioner P Bhaskar in his petition said that as Deepavali falls on the middle on the week on October 18 this year and people would find it difficult to celebrate it with family members because they have travel by buses and trains to reach their native places and return to work within a day. As Deepavali festival is a rare occasion for relatives to celebrate together in joy, the Government should consider declaring the two days, prior to and after the festival, as national holidays and people could compensate by working on weekends, he contended.
