The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a petition challenging the construction of the ‘Sainya Dham’ war memorial in Dehradun, sharply questioning the petitioner and stressing the need to respect soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant allowed the petitioner to withdraw the plea after indicating that it would impose costs for filing what it termed a “mischievously designed” petition.
The matter came before a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M. Pancholi, which was hearing a challenge to a January order of the Uttarakhand High Court. The high court had earlier dismissed a petition alleging that the land earmarked for the construction of the ‘Sainya Dham’ war memorial in Dehradun district was forest land and therefore unsuitable for construction.
During the hearing, the Supreme Court expressed strong disapproval of the plea. Addressing the petitioner’s counsel, the bench asked, “You have problem with construction of a war memorial?”
Chief Justice Surya Kant further remarked, “For those who have sacrificed their lives for the nation, at least have some respect.”
The bench observed that the high court should have dismissed the petition with exemplary costs and even indicated that it might issue a show-cause notice to the petitioner to explain the basis of the litigation.
“We will issue show cause notice to him (petitioner). Let him come and explain and we will hold an inquiry as to on whose instance he is filing this petition,” the Chief Justice said.
When the petitioner’s counsel argued that the memorial itself was not being constructed properly, the bench remained unconvinced and described the litigation as a “mischievously designed writ petition.” It then indicated that the petition would be dismissed with costs of ₹1 lakh.
At that stage, the petitioner’s counsel sought permission to withdraw the plea, which the court allowed.
The litigation stemmed from a petition filed before the Uttarakhand High Court claiming that the state government had initiated construction of the ‘Sainya Dham’ war memorial in Dehradun without verifying the nature of the land and that the site formed part of forest land.
However, the state government informed the high court that a joint survey had been conducted by both revenue and forest authorities. According to the joint inspection report, the land in question was not part of forest land.
The state further stated that forest authorities had raised no objection to the allotment of the land for construction of the memorial and that work on the project had begun in 2021 and was nearing completion.
Accepting these submissions, the Uttarakhand High Court dismissed the petition, noting that the petitioner’s challenge had no legal basis.
“Since forest authorities have inspected land and certified that it is not part of forest land, therefore, ground taken by petitioner for challenging construction of war memorial is legally unsustainable,” the high court had held while rejecting the plea.
