By IANS,
New Delhi : With the Gujarat government mulling to challenge the state high court’s order lifting the ban on expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh’s book on Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Supreme Court Tuesday decided to keep alive Singh’s lawsuit against the ban.
As Singh’s lawsuit, filed before the Gujarat High Court’s order lifting the ban last week, came up for hearing in the apex court, Gujarat government counsel Hemantika Wahi told the court that the state government was considering whether to challenge the high court order.
At this, the bench of Justice Altmas Kabir and Justice Cyriac Joseph decided to keep Singh’s lawsuit pending in the court and listed it for further hearing Oct 20.
“Since the notification challenged in the writ petition (lawsuit) has been struck down, no interim order is required to be passed at this stage,” the bench said, while deferring the matter.
The bench also asked the Gujarat government to file its reply to the court’s notice issued earlier on Singh’s lawsuit, challenging the state government’s Aug 19 decision to ban the book in the state.
The 71-year-old politician has challenged the state government’s notification, alleging that the authority banned the book arbitrarily and without going through its contents.