BSP's Mayawati may have to deposit money used for erecting her statues: SC

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said it is of tentative view that former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati should reimburse the public exchequer for all the amounts spent on putting in place elephants statue at a public place.
The remarks were made by a bench hearing a petition filed by an advocate who had contended that public money cannot be utilised for creating own statues and for propagating the political party.
"We are of the tentative view that Mayawati has to deposit the public money spent on her statues and party symbol to the state exchequer," a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi said.
The bench, also comprising justices Deepka Gupta and Sanjeev Khanna, posted the matter for final hearing on April 2.
The bench made it clear the tentative view was expressed by it as the matter will take some time for the hearing.
"We will have it for final disposal on April 2," the bench said.
In 2009, the BSP supremo had faced flak for erecting over 40 statues, including six of her own.
The Uttar Pradesh culture department's budget for 2009-10 shows that in 2008-09, the department had allocated more than Rs 194 crore for building statues of "great leaders" the entire amount was spent.
Later that year, the SC had ordered the dalit leader to stop the construction of the parks inside which the stautes were erected. However, the court had allowed the construction of the park saying that the park should have 50% green cover and only 25% area can have permanent structures.
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(With input from PTI)