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IIAS wins court battle on premises

By Our Staff Correspondent

SHIMLA, JULY 14. In a major decision, the Supreme Court has accepted the prayer of the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS) to let it remain at its present Rashtrapati Nivas venue in Shimla. Hereafter all speculations about the shifting of the building comes to an end, according to the IIAS spokesman, Ashok Sharma.

After hearing the plea by the IIAS for a clarification that by order of the Supreme Court dated March 27, 1997 in Writ Petition no. 862 of 1990, they are not asked to vacate and that the line in the order "The Indian Institute of Advanced Study is given time to vacate the monument till 31.12. 2003" may be deleted, the two-member bench comprising Mr. Justice S.N. Variava and Justice Arijit Pasayat ruled `... that the above mentioned line will stand deleted and the instant IA stands disposed off accordingly'.

The Institute has pointed out that in the writ petition there was no prayer asking the Institute to vacate the Rashtrapati Nivas. It was also pointed out that the petition was only filed in order to ensure that the building should not be converted into a five star hotel, the spokesman said. Rajiv Dhawan, counsel for the petitioner Rajiv Mankotia, stated that his client had not implied that the Institute may vacate the Rashtrapati Nivas. He further stated that the above mentioned line had been incorporated because of some statement by the government and that they were thinking of getting the Institute vacated.

G.E. Vahanvati, the Solicitor General of India, appearing for the Government said "the Government does not desire the Institute to vacate and that it is agreeable to let the Institute continue". The apex court observed that "as it is clear that the above mentioned line has crept in by mistake, we clarify that the order dated March 27, 1997 in Writ Petition no. 862 of 1990 should not be construed to mean that the Indian Institute of Advanced Study must vacate the building".

The Institute, in its application, had inter-alia prayed that the court allow it to continue to function from the present venue and use the building for the purpose it was given to IIAS by the then President, S. Radhakrishnan. The court has finally accepted the prayer of the Institute to let it remain at the Rashtrapati Nivas, providing much needed respite to the intellectual community and those standing for the cause of higher education in the country, the spokesman claimed.

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