Setback for Jagan: Court directs removal of YSRC flag colours from govt buildings
New Delhi/Vijayawada: In a big setback for Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Andhra Pradesh government to remove within four weeks the colours in which Gram Panchayat buildings in the state have been painted. The colours are of the ruling party’s flag.
The bench of Justice L Nageswara Rao, Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Ravindra Bhat added that “any attempt to disobey the directions issued by courts would be subversive to the Rule of Law.”
The court said that any defiance of the court order by the executive will erode public confidence in the judiciary.
“Public confidence in the judiciary will be eroded if its orders are not obeyed,” said Justice Nageswara Rao in the order passed today while disposing of Andhra Pradesh government’s appeal against the AP High Court order directing the state government to remove the colours on Gram Panchayat buildings that resembled the colours on the flag of the ruling party.
The court further said that as the time for the compliance of the March 10, 2020, AP High Court order has been extended, the contempt proceedings initiated by the High Court are closed.
Finding no infirmity with the High Court’s March 10, 2020 order, the top court today said, “We have examined the matter carefully. We are of the opinion that the judgment of the High Court does not warrant interference. There is no ambiguity in the direction issued by the High Court by its judgment dated 10.03.2020 that any colour which is similar to the flag of any political party should not be used for painting the Gram Panchayat buildings.”
Holding that the March 10, 2020, directions of the AP High Court were “clear and unambiguous”, the court today said, “The High Court is right in holding that the respondents (Andhra Pradesh government) have made a deliberate attempt in circumventing the directions issued on 10.03.2020.”
The top court further said, “Executive orders are subjected to judicial review and the judgments of the courts which have become final should be followed by compliance of the directions given therein. Any attempt to disobey the directions issued by courts would be subversive to the Rule of Law. Public confidence in the judiciary will be eroded if its orders are not obeyed.”
The matter had reached the AP High Court by way of a PIL.
The High Court in its May 22, 2020 judgment, which was under challenge, had noted that there was a deliberate attempt to overreach its March 10, 2020, order as it set aside the April 23, 2020 government order spelling out guidelines for painting of Panchayat/ Government buildings.
One of the guidelines said that the colour combination for painting government buildings and other properties should not be similar to the colours of the flags of political parties.
In pursuance to this, Andhra Pradesh issued the colour combination/ theme for painting the Gram Panchayat buildings in a colour scheme of green, blue, white and terracotta.
Telugu Desam chief N Chandrababu Naidu demanded that the state government disclose how much public money was spent on painting government buildings in the YSR Congress party flag colours, and added that the money must be recovered from the ruling party and also from government officials who blindly followed the orders of the government.
He also accused the state government of spending huge amounts of public money on useless public programmes and said to argue the matter of the proposed shifting of the administrative capital from Amaravati to Visakhapatnam in the High Court, the state government paid Rs 5 crore to its lawyer.
