Varun case: UP govt moves SC

Board decision legally erroneous

The Mayawati government was opposed to the recommendation of the panel headed by Allahabad High Court Judge Pradeep Kant and two retired high court judges S N Sahai and P K Sareen which said there was “no sufficient cause” for Varun’s detention under the NSA.

The application said the Uttar Pradesh Advisory Board (Detentions), Lucknow, constituted by the government under the provisions of the Act said in its report that “there is no sufficient ground to detain Varun Gandhi under the National Security Act, 1980 and directed for revocation of detention order of March 29, 2009.’’

It would be expedient in the interest of justice to set aside the recommendation of May 8, 2009, made by the panel which is “legally erroneous and perverse,” said the application seeking continuation of Varun’s detention under the law.

Mandatory authority

The panel, the mandatory authority to review the imposition of anti-national charges under the Act,  expressed surprise that the authorities concerned had overlooked and ignored the fundamental principles of natural justice while dealing with the case and wondered how the first information report could be lodged at the behest of the district magistrate who had also issued the formal order to charge him under the National Security Act.

The application will come up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan on May 14, the day of the completion of his parole.

Gandhi was released on parole on April 16 as the voting in his Pilibhit constituency in Uttar Pradesh would be held on May 13.

Two separate cases had been filed against Varun Gandhi before the district court in Pilibhit charging him with giving communally inflammatory speeches and violating prohibitory orders.