SC refuses to quash PIL against Mayawati in Taj corridor scam

New Delhi, Nov 16 (PTI) The Supreme Court of India
Monday rejected Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (India's
northern state) Mayawati's plea for quashing a Public Interest
Litigation (PIL) filed against her in the Taj corridor scandal
which had involved construction of a massive shopping mall and
recreational centres near the world famous monument.
She had sought quashing of the PIL in the Allahabad
High Court claiming that opposition parties could try to
destabilise her government on the issue.
A bench of Justices B S Sirpurkar and B Sudershan
Reddy asked the Uttar Pradesh government to approach the High
Court on the issue of maintainability of the PIL.
"What the opposition is going to demand to destabilise
the government, we are not bothered," the court said.
The observation of the judges came when senior counsel
K K Venugopal submitted that the PIL had the propensity to
destabilise the government.
He pleaded that if the PIL was allowed to be heard, it
would only give the opposition an excuse to demand her
government's resignation.
"Destabilisation, why should we go into all those
things?" the bench asked.
The court was also not impressed with the UP
government's argument that the case was politically motivated
as it claimed that four other similar petitions on the same
issue were earlier dismissed by the apex court.
The judges while saying that they found no reason to
interfere in the matter, granted liberty to the UP government
to raise its arguments before the High Court. (MORE) PTI