BENGALURU: With the State government refusing to back down on its decision to celebrate the birth anniversary of Tipu Sultan, Karnataka High Court on Thursday disposed a PIL against it, directing the petitioner to approach the government machinery first.
One Manjunath from Kodagu had filed the petition seeking directions to the State not to organise Tippu Jayanthi, scheduled on November 10, citing the riots in Kodagu during the celebrations last year.
But the government, which had resisted calls against the function all along, staunchly opposed the plea. Advocate General Madhusudan R Naik informed the court that the celebration of Tippu jayanthi was a policy decision of the State.
But he assured that all measures will be taken to ensure law and order was not disturbed during the function.
Following this, the division bench of Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice RB Budihal asked the petitioner to submit a representation containing his grievances to the chief secretary by Friday. If such a representation is submitted, chief secretary might consider it and pass the appropriate order by November 8, the order added.
Few days ago, speaking to the media at Mangaluru, Chief Minister S Siddaramaiah had reiterated that the government will not step back from its decision to hold Tipu Jayanti on November 10.
“I see that there is opposition from various quarters of society for the celebrations. If there is danger for peace and harmony due to Tipu Jayanti, the government will tighten the security and still observe Tipu Jayanti,” he said.
He was speaking to reporters at the Mangalore International Airport soon after arriving from Bengaluru to inaugurate the Buntara Bhavana
in Bantwal on Sunday.
“We do not give credence to the objections raised by RSS against Tippu Jayanti," he said.