Delhi HC Closes PIL Seeking Red Fort Memorial For Army
Delhi HC closed a PIL seeking an INA martyrs’ memorial at Red Fort, saying erecting a memorial is government discretion, not a court matter.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to direct the Centre to erect a memorial at the Red Fort honouring martyrs of the Indian National Army (INA).
Hearing a public interest litigation filed by the Mahan Swatantrata Senani Lalti Ram Trust, a bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Tejas Karia observed that building a memorial was a matter of government discretion and could not become a “justiciable issue” before a court.
“Whatever makes you feel good does not become the subject matter of a writ petition. Erecting or not erecting a memorial is the discretion of the government, not courts. It cannot be a debatable issue before a court of law,” the bench told the petitioner’s lawyer.
The petitioner’s counsel contended that no action had been taken despite five years having passed since the government announced plans to build a memorial for thousands of INA martyrs at the Red Fort. He argued that the delay violated the right to live with dignity under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The court responded: “Erection of a memorial is not linked to any fundamental duty or right. How can we pass such a direction? How can we direct the government to allocate land in Red Fort?”
The bench questioned the basis for seeking a direction to the Centre to implement its proposal, observing that a Press Information Bureau release about the proposal did not, by itself, establish a right.
The court closed the proceedings, giving the petitioner liberty to submit a detailed representation to the Centre. If such a representation was made, the authorities would have to take a decision, it added.
The petition said the Centre, in a written reply in Parliament in August 2021, had announced proposals to commemorate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary, including a memorial at the Red Fort for INA martyrs.
The plea said: “The Government of India has commemorated Netaji and the INA at the Red Fort, established a museum dedicated to Netaji and has expressly stated before Parliament that a proposal for establishing a memorial to INA martyrs at the Red Fort had been approved. In these circumstances, the constitutional value of dignity, remembrance and preservation of national memory lends urgency to a reasoned and time-bound consideration of the pending memorial proposal…The relief sought is thus confined to the commemoration of the INA martyrs at the Red Fort, a site intrinsically associated with the INA Trials and the history of India's freedom struggle.”
