The Gujarat High Court today refused to entertain a PIL moved by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, seeking to do away with the Sabarmati Ashram redevelopment project. A
Division Bench of Gujarat HC rejected the plea on the grounds that the undertaking submitted by the state assured that the redevelopment project will be carried out “in accordance with Gandhian philosophy and Gandhian ethos”.
Advocate-General Kamal Trivedi, representing the state, submitted that the proposed project would not touch the one-acre on which the main Ashram exists today and only redevelop the rest of the 55 acres.
Read more about the judgment here: https://www.vibesofindia.com/gujarat-high-court-rejects-plea-against-sabarmati-ashram-redevelopment/
“The oral reasoning for dismissal of the plea is ambiguous and I would like to wait for the written order before deciding the further course of action,” Tushar Gandhi told VoI post the HC proceeding today. He is being represented by Advocate Bhushan Oza.
“I am not against any renovation. But the redevelopment project contravenes the entire ideology on which the trust was formed. It was made plenty clear during the formation of the Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (SAPMT) that any decision regarding the Sabarmati Ashram would be free of any government influence. I am resisting the state’s attempt to corrupt the legacy of Gandhiji and the sanctity of the Ashram,” Gandhi said. The existing functioning of the Sabarmati Ashram is managed by SAPMT.
The division bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice AJ Shastri endorsed the government’s version of undertaking the redevelopment work without disturbing the Gandhian ethos by observing that the state has a “comprehensive development of Gandhi Ashram memorial”.
“Any grievances that the petitioner or the Ashram representatives have can be raised at the forum of the Governing Council constituted under the GR,” the bench held.
