Ajit Karn
New Delhi: On Friday, the Delhi High Court granted Bharat Bachao permission to organise a two-day National Seminar, subject to certain conditions. Saturday’s scheduled event had been denied permission to proceed by the Delhi Police.
Justice Tushar Rao Gedela granted Bharat bachao permission to host the event at HKS Surjit Bhavan on Saturday and Sunday.
The permission has been granted on the condition that the seminar’s organisers provide comprehensive information about the presenters. Second, the Delhi police shall be provided with the contact number of the culpable party.
Advocate Sravan Kumar filed a petition on behalf of the petitioners against the Delhi Government, the Commissioner of Police, the Superintendent of IP Estate, and others.
The Petitioner, Gade Inna Reddy, sought an order quashing the order issued by the Station House Officer (SHO) of Police Station IP Estate, New Delhi, on March 9, 2023, denying permission to organise a National Seminar just 36 hours before the event.
Colin Gonsalves, a senior advocate, appeared on behalf of the petitioners and argued that, with the exception of the ten keynote speakers named in the petition, the other participants are also strictly by invitation only; therefore, providing a list of these individuals will alleviate the respondents’ concerns.
Advocate Utkarsh Singh, counsel for the State and Delhi police, argued that the police authorities’ apprehension would be alleviated if they received specific information by this evening.
He also argued that the information contained in the present writ petition was unavailable to law enforcement. Therefore, the decision to not conduct the seminar had already been made.
In addition, he argued that permission for the meeting could be granted if the court issues appropriate directives/conditions.
After considering the arguments of both parties, the bench issued the following directive: Petitioners shall compile a list of invitees to the two-day seminar with complete details as to their residence and identity cards and submit the same to the SHO, IP Estate, by today at 9:00 PM, so that the SHO, IP Estate may record the number of invitees who are attending the two-day seminar.
Also read: Propylene glycol used in Marion Biotech’s cough syrups that was “not of standard quality.”
Also, a comparable manifest of the remaining invitees who are still travelling and will arrive in Delhi by tomorrow must be provided to the SHO on or before March 11 at 12:00 p.m.
The court ordered the petitioner to provide one phone number of the responsible person or organisation conducting the seminar, so that the police authorities will have a single point of contact regarding the seminar scheduled to take place over the next two days.
