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The Maharashtra government’s decision to declare a public holiday on 22 January on account of the ‘pran pratishtha’ of Ram Temple in Ayodhya is challenged in the Bombay High Court by 4 law students from MNLU, GLC, and NIRMA law schools. A special bench of Justices GS Kulkarni and Neela Gokhale was scheduled to hear the matter on 21 January at 10:30 AM.
The development comes as state governments in many states announced holidays or half-days in educational institutes and government offices on 22 January. The Department of Personnel and Training also declared half working days in central government offices on the day of Ram Temple’s inauguration in Ayodhya.
Maharashtra government on Friday announced a public holiday in the state on 22 January. India’s stock market will also remain closed on the occasion. “The state government is declaring a one-day public day as ‘Shri Ram Lalla Pran-Pratishtha Din’ on January 22,” the order issued by the state general administration department said.
A government official said that the proposal for the holiday was moved by the general administration department and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde decided to give a green signal on Friday.
“The state general administration department has moved a proposal for a one-day which was pending with the chief minister Eknath Shinde for approval as the latter was in Davos, Switzerland to attend the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. The proposal was cleared today and the order has been issued accordingly,” said a senior official from the ministry of general administration told Hindustan Times on the condition of anonymity.
Other states with holidays on 22 January
The holidays or half-days were declared in many other states on the occasion of Ram Temple’s ‘pran pratishtha’ in Ayodhya on 22 January. Delhi Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena announced half-day work for government offices in Delhi. Similar orders were passed in Union Territories of Puducherry and Chandigarh where the administration decided to declare holiday on 22 January.
The other states with holiday or half working days on 22 January include Uttar Pradesh, Tripura, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Haryana, Odisha, Assam, Gujarat, Uttarakhand etc.
The respective governments emphasized that they do not want government officials to remain away from the grand ‘pran pratishtha’ at Ram Temple in Ayodhya and have decided to either declare a holiday or provide them with half-day leave till 2:30 PM.
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Published: 20 Jan 2024, 07:40 PM IST
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