HC issues notices to the organisers of Nanded Yoga Camp

Aurangabad, (Maharashtra), Jan 16 (UNI) The Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court today directed Nanded Waghala Municipal Corporation (NWMC), one of the organisers of the Yoga camp of Swami Ramdeo, and the State Government to file an affidavit on a petition challenging NWMCs decision to provide Rs 24 lakh to the Sharad Pratibha Pratishthan for organising the camp at Nanded.

The Division Bench comprising Justice P V Hardas and P R Borkar issued directives to the respondents NWMC and State Government to file an affidavit in the matter within two weeks from today.

Senior Journalist from Nanded, Sanjeev Kulkarni, has challenged the MWMC Standing Committee decision to provide a financial assistance of Rs 24 lakh to the Sharad Pratibha Pratishthan for organising the Yoga Camp.

The petitioner has submitted that he was not against organising the Yoga Camp' and stated that but objecting the sanctioning and disbursing of the assistance. The petitioner also charged that the sanctioning of grant by the NWMC was in an arbitrary manner and politically motivated. It was also in violation of the by-laws of the Municipal Corporation. The petitioner pleaded for directives to the Municipal Corporation to recover the amount given to the Pratishthan.

According to the petitioner, the Sharad Pratibha Pratishthan is headed by the Union Minister of state for rural development Ms Suryakanta Patil and pointed out that the minister had written a letter to the NWMC commissioner on November 2, 2006 requesting him to provide an assistance of Rs 30 lakh for the camp.

Accordingly, the Standing Committee passed a resolution sanctioning the amount on November 27, 2006 and subsequently disbursed it on December 8, 2006.

Mr Uday Bopshetty appeared on behalf of the petitioner in the case while the assistant government pleader Dilip Bankar Patil was present on behalf of the State Government.

Meanwhile, Swami Ramdeo Baba arrived in Nanded for his week-long Yoga camp which begins at the Polytechnic College Ground at Nanded tomorrow.

UNI