Advocate Om Prakash Yadav is 82 years old. He was earlier a government employee. He has filed a petition in the High Court against religious places in police stations. It said there are 1,259 police stations in the state, out of which 800 have religious places of this type. It has been said in the petition that this is a violation of the direction given by the Supreme Court in 2009 in which it has been said that government property should not be misused. This directive prohibits unauthorized construction of any temple, church, mosque or gurudwara on public roads or public places anywhere across the country.
Accepting the petition, a bench of Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Vivek Jain ordered maintenance of ‘status quo’ and sought clarification from the government in this regard. Expressing dissatisfaction over the government’s explanation on December 17, the next date of hearing has been kept on January 6, while ordering the state government to submit a comprehensive and factual report within seven days. The court said that the issue is serious and religious structures violate the fundamental principles and basic structure of the Constitution.
In its reply, the government has accused the petitioner of being motivated by ulterior motives. Accusing the petitioner of trying to attract people’s attention, the government told the High Court that the petition has been filed to harass the policemen and is baseless as there is no such structure in any police station. The government also emphasized that instead of going to court, the petitioners could have gone to an alternative forum like the District Magistrate to settle the matter.
Satish Verma, one of the advocates assisting the petitioner, told Sunday Navjeevan that the police station is government land, the police is its trustee and the construction of places of worship is a direct violation of the orders given from time to time by both the Supreme Court and the High Court. Petitioner Om Prakash Yadav believes that construction of religious structures inside the police station is not possible without the connivance and direct permission and participation of the police.
He claims that many of these have actually been inaugurated by the District Superintendents of Police and it is impossible for outsiders to build these structures without their permission. Even if the SP who came later had considered it inappropriate, he might have hesitated in removing these structures. Sometimes there are political pressures and on other occasions the desire to maintain peace and keep a section of the population satisfied also prevents their removal.
The Supreme Court had ordered a ban on religious structures on government property in 2009, following which the Madhya Pradesh government had removed at least 571 religious places by 2013. The court had directed state governments and union territories to review such structures and take appropriate action. The court had given the High Court the power to review the implementation of the order and dispose of petitions related to contempt of court.
In view of the situation in the country, people are keeping an eye on the latest developments. It remains to be seen what the state government says in its revised report. It also remains to be seen whether she diverts attention from this and demands some more time to hang the matter.
Government had to step back
With the idea of ​​handing over government hospitals to private hands, preparations were made about four months ago to give them to public-private partnership. But due to opposition from civil society and people, the state government has had to drag its feet. Tenders were invited online in July to build 100-bed medical colleges in the 12 poorest districts. Basically, the idea was to upgrade the existing district hospitals in this way.
According to the conditions, the government would have handed over these hospitals to the company selected in the tender. The company would have been responsible for upgrading the hospital, building a medical college and arranging money for it. The concerned company would then manage, maintain and run the hospital. This scheme was to be implemented in Katni, Morena, Panna, Balaghat, Bhind, Dhar, Guna, Khargone, Seoni, Sidhi, Tikamgarh and Betul. These are the poorest districts of the state in terms of per capita income. The reserve or base rate for each district was kept at Rs 260 crore. According to the conditions that were put in place, one-fourth of the beds in the hospital to be upgraded would have been paid.
Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla, responsible for the health department, supported the plan, saying that it would have improved government health facilities in these districts and also increased the number of medical colleges in the state. But activists working in the health care sector as well as people within the BJP believe that the possibility of privatization and charging money on routine and emergency services will also be painful. After pressure, the government has currently stopped going ahead with it and has decided to review the plan.
Actually, there was protest everywhere regarding this. Umesh Tiwari, who led the protest in Sidhi, also put forward the reason, ‘The distance of Sidhi is 600 kilometers from the capital Bhopal. Sidhi District Hospital is the largest health provider not only in the district but also in the surrounding area and caters to the needs of lakhs of people. If the free facilities available here are taken away, then where will people go?
Ghost of Vyapam
The ghost of irregularities in Madhya Pradesh Staff Selection Board (Vyapam) does not stop. Candidates appearing for its combined examination, 2023 for Forest and Prison Departments took to the streets even in this cold weather to protest against the result. Raja Bhaiya Prajapati of Satna, who was the topper in this examination, has got 101.66 marks out of 100. The protesters alleged fraud and demanded an investigation. But the board says everything is correct.
The board called it a ‘normalization process’ and said that one can get more than 100 marks in total and the lowest score can be less than zero. The board says that this process was adopted when the number of candidates was high and the examinations had to be conducted in several shifts and over several days. The questions were different in every shift, hence this procedure was adopted so that the candidates do not have to face discrimination due to difficult questions and situations.
This process is adopted to ensure that no candidate gets special treatment or is put at a disadvantage compared to others and the marks awarded to candidates are arranged in such a way that everyone’s marks are comparable. But the protesting people are not satisfied with this and are adamant on investigation. He says that ‘While adopting this process, for the first time, a candidate has got more than the total marks, hence it is necessary to investigate.’
