Tamil Nadu: Why did the Madras High Court give instructions to remove Babasaheb’s picture from the court?
The full court, in its meeting held on 11 March 2010, resolved not to allow any photographs, statues or pictures to be placed in the court premises except those of Mahatma Gandhi and Thiruvalluvar.
Published on: Jul 23, 2023 at 5:52 pm
Tamil Nadu. Madras High Court has given a big order. Has issued a circular to the courts saying that the courts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry can only display photographs of Mahatma Gandhi and Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar. The High Court directed the Principal District Judge, Kancheepuram, to remove Babasaheb Ambedkar’s portrait from the entrance hall of the Bar Association’s newly constructed Joint Court complex at Alandur. This circular of the Madras High Court has been sent to all the district courts by the Registrar General on July 7.
The High Court circular referred to incidents in which statues of national leaders were vandalized and which led to clashes. Apart from this, law and order related problems have arisen at various places.
Permission was sought for the unveiling of the pictures – This issue pertains to representations received from various advocates associations, in which permission has been sought to unveil the pictures of Ambedkar and senior advocates of the concerned association. In a meeting held on 11 April, the full bench of the High Court rejected all such requests.
Only pictures of Mahatma Gandhi and Tamil poet-saint Thiruvalluvar will be displayed in Tamil Nadu-Puducherry courts
Referring to that 2010 decision
In this regard, a circular was issued listing out the various resolutions passed by the full court meeting. It was informed that in the meeting held on March 11, 2010, the full court had resolved not to allow any other picture, statue or picture to be installed in the court premises except those of Mahatma Gandhi and Thiruvalluvar.
The circular said that on April 27, 2013, the full court directed the Principal District Judge of Kancheepuram to persuade the Alandur Court Lawyers Association to remove Ambedkar’s portrait and rejected the Cuddalore Bar’s request to display his portrait in the newly constituted special courts. “Recently, on April 11, the Full Court considered a similar request and reiterated all earlier resolutions and unanimously decided that except for the statues and portraits of Gandhi and Thiruvalluvar, no other images shall be displayed anywhere inside the court premises,” the circular said. The Registrar-General directed that in case of any deviation, action would be taken by giving an appropriate complaint to the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
