New Delhi, February 11
The Supreme Court on Thursday gave four weeks to the Centre to respond to a PIL seeking to declare “Prakash Parv” — the birthday of Guru Govind Singh — as a national holiday.
On behalf of petitioner “All India Shiromani Singh Sabha”, senior advocate Vikas Singh told a Bench headed by CJI SA Bobde that the Centre had not filed its response so far.
The Bench gave additional time to the government after Attorney General KK Venugopal sought four weeks to file the response. The SC on January 18 issued notices to the Centre and states on the PIL seeking a uniform national public holiday policy. It had asked the Centre and states to respond to the PIL, which alleged that currently public holidays were being declared on the basis of “whims and fancies of various political groups”.
The petitioner complained that the birth anniversary of the Guru, which fell on January 20, had not been declared a holiday, although he was an important figure. — TNS
Top court tells Centre to reply within 4 weeks
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