CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Wednesday adjourned hearing on the PIL seeking certain directions regarding Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose to April 16.
The PIL filed by Pinakpani Mohanty, a resident of Cuttack on January 20 this year, has sought the court’s direction to the authorities to declare Netaji as a national son, his birthday to be observed as national day and declaring his birthplace at Odia Bazar in Cuttack as a national museum.
Mohanty has also sought direction for declassification of transfer to power agreement of year 1947, including intelligence bureau secret files regarding Netaji and further direction for acceptance of the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry report.
The court deferred the hearing after the central government counsel prayed for extension of time by four weeks, to file the affidavit in response to the PIL. The bench of Acting Chief Justice Arindam Sinha and Justice V Narasingh said, “Time to file affidavit is extended. It will be accepted on adjourned date upon advance copy served. List on 16th April, 2025.”
When the PIL was first taken up on January 22, the court had adjourned hearing on it to February 12, permitting the central government counsel time till then to file reply affidavit. When the petition was taken up on February 19, the counsel had sought more time. The court had then adjourned hearing to March 5 and the matter was taken up on Wednesday.
Janaki Nath Bhawan at Odia Bazar, the ancestral home of Netaji and his birthplace, was declared a protected monument by the Odisha State Archaeology in 1991. The building was later restored to its original look and has been the Netaji Birthplace Museum since 2004.
The Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry, instituted by the NDA Government in 1999, concluded that Netaji did not die in any plane crash on August 18, 1945. The Commission also commented that the ashes kept in the Renkoji temple in Japan was not of the late Netaji, but one of late Okahara Ichiro.