{"id":23484,"date":"1997-03-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1997-03-26T18:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997"},"modified":"2015-06-14T20:47:06","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T15:17:06","slug":"rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997","title":{"rendered":"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of … on 27 March, 1997"},"content":{"rendered":"
Supreme Court of India<\/div>\n
Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of … on 27 March, 1997<\/div>\n
Bench: K. Ramaswamy, G. B. Pattanaik<\/div>\n
           PETITIONER:\nRAJEEV MANKOTIA\n\n\tVs.\n\nRESPONDENT:\nTHE SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA & ORS.\n\nDATE OF JUDGMENT:\t27\/03\/1997\n\nBENCH:\nK. RAMASWAMY, G. B. PATTANAIK\n\n\n\n\nACT:\n\n\n\nHEADNOTE:\n\n\n\nJUDGMENT:\n<\/pre>\n
\t\tTHE 27TH DAY OF MARCH, 1997
\nPresent:\n<\/p>\n
\t      Hon’ble Mr. Justice K. Ramawamy
\n\t      Hon’ble Mr. Justice G.B. Pattanaik
\nMr. Sudarash Menon, Advocate for the Petitioner.
\nMr. V.R. Reddy,\t Additional Solicitor  General, Mr. A. Subba
\nRao, Ms. Anil Katiyar, Mr. Y.P. Mahajan, Mr. N.K. Sharma and
\nMr. V.K. Verma, Advocates with him for the respondents.\n<\/p>\n
\t\t\t O R D E R
\n     The following Order of the Court was delivered:
\n\t\t\t O R D E R
\n     Viceregal Lodge  at Shimla\t is a  harbinger of Colonial
\npast,  with   architecturally\tgrandeur   and\t beauty\t  of
\nElizabethian Era and stands a mute witness to the transition
\nof independence to the people of India of the sustained non-
\nviolent struggle  by  the  Father  of  the  Nation,  Mahatma
\nGandhiji.  Three   historical  meetings\t  between   Colonial
\nadministration and  the Indian leaders took place to discuss
\nthe issue of the Indian independence under the leadership of
\nMahatma\t Gandhiji,   viz.,  (i)\t in  June-July\t1946  –\t the
\nhistorical Cabinet  Mission of\tthe Indian  leaders; (ii) in
\nMay-June 1947;\tand (iii)  the final  one wherein historical
\ndecision was  taken by\tLouis Mountbatten  for transition of
\nthe power  conveying the  proposal  to\tthe  Indian  leaders
\nthrough Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru; Nehru; that was followed by
\ngrant of  independence to the nation and the worst holocaust
\nof communal  disturbance  due  to  partition  of  the  great
\nancient nation into India, i.e., Bharat, and Pakistan.\n<\/p>\n
     The journey  of Simla,  Summer Capital  of the  Supreme
\nGovernment, started  in 1827  by the first Governor General,
\nEarl of\t Amherst and Viceregal Lodge, the official residence
\nbuilt by  the 17th  Viceroy, Earl  Dufferin, was occupied on
\nJuly 23,  1888.\t Though\t Lord  Dufferin\t and  Lady  Dufferin
\npersonally  supervised\t its  taking   finished\t shape,\t its
\ncompletion work\t went on  till September  1988 which led the
\npresent shape  of the  building given  by Earl of Marquis of
\nLandowne till  1889 – the only Viceroy who exclusively lived
\ntherein during\this entire tenure, i.e., from 10th December,
\n1888 to\t 26th June,  1894 in  Summer Camp.  The building was
\nbuilding is unique. The Viceroys\/Governor Generals used this
\nbuilding as  Summer Comp  from\tApril  to  October  of\teach
\ncalender year  and the\tBritish ruled  the entire India from
\nthis building.\tIt was\talso independence, it was renamed as
\n`Rashtrapati Niwas’,  dawning with  smile  the\tfreedom\t for
\nBharat and  the Presidents  of the  Bharat  Republic  stayed
\ntherein as Summer Resort until Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,
\nthe second  President had  it  handed  over  to\t the  Indian
\nInstitute  of\tAdvanced  Studies  in  the  year  1964.\t The
\nPresident himself  had inaugurated  the Institute  when\t Dr.
\nJakir Hussain,\tthen as\t its Chairman,\tand who later became
\nthe President  of India,  had chaired  the meeting.  It thus
\nfurnishes the  historical evidence of the Colonial holocaust
\nunleashed on Indians and reflects upon the triumph of Indian
\nnationalism; it\t has laid seed-bed to the end of the British
\ncolonialism. Whether  such a  building\tis  required  to  be
\nmaintained as historical monument of national importance, is
\nthe question before us.\n<\/p>\n
     When Dr.  Radhakrishnan, the  President of\t India\tfelt
\nthat since  the President spent hardly 120 days in 10 years,
\ni.e., 10  days a  year, it  was worthwhile to house the said
\nInstitute  therein,   instead  of   keeping  the  historical
\nmonument as idle building which would facilitate maintaining
\nthe grandeur  and beauty  of the building. However, the fact
\nis that\t with the passage of time, it has faded out and lost
\nits real beauty. While the Institute was being so run, cruel
\ndecision was  taken by\tthe Cabinet of the Union of India to
\nconvert the building, a priceless treasury of our historical
\nheritage, into\ttourist hotel,\twhile purporting to maintain
\nthe main  part of the building as historical resort. Feeling
\nthe inner  voice of its ultimate destruction, the petitioner
\nhas knocked the door of this Court, and in our view rightly,
\nto protect it as the historical heritage and to preserve our
\nposterity.\n<\/p>\n
     Before considering\t whether the  Viceregal Lodge should
\nbe declared  as historical heritage (monuments), let us have
\na look\tat the\tlegal setting  in that\tbehalf. The  Ancient
\nMonuments and  Archaeological Sites  and Remains  Act,\t1958
\n(for short,  the `Ancient  Monuments Act’)  provides for the
\npreservation  of   ancient  and\t  historical  monuments\t and
\narchaeological sites and remains of national importance. The
\nAct was\t enacted to  clarify the  legal\t position  that\t the
\nCentral Government  regulates exclusively  ancient monuments
\netc. of\t national importance,  leaving the field open to the
\nStable legislatures  to enact  the law on the subject, i.e.,
\nancient monumens  of State  imulus or place of interment, or
\nany cave,  rock-sculpture, inscription or monolith, which is
\nof historical, archaeologicla or artistic interest and which
\nhas been  in existence\tfor not less than one hundred years,
\nand includes (emphasis supplied):\n<\/p>\n
(i)  the remains or an ancient monument;\n<\/p>\n
(ii) the site of an ancient monument;\n<\/p>\n
(iii) such  portion of land adjoining the site of an ancient
\n     monument as may  be required for fencing or covering in
\n     or otherwise preserving such monument ; and\n<\/p>\n
(iv) the means\tof access  to, and concentient inspection of
\n     an ancient\t monument.\n<\/p>\n
     Section 3\tof the\tAct declares  that all\tancient\t and
\nhistorical monuments  and archaeological  sites and  remains
\nwhich have  been declared  by  the  Ancient  and  Historical
\nMonuments and  Archaeological Sites  and Remins (Declaration
\nof National  Importance) Act  1951, or by Section 126 of the
\nStates\tRs-  organisation  Act,\t 1956,\tto  be\tof  national
\nimportance shall  be demed  to\tbe  ancient  and  historical
\nmonuments or  archaeological sites and remins declared to be
\nof national  importance for the purpose of this Act. Section
\n4 empowers  the Central\t Government to\tdeclare any  ancient
\nmonuments or  archaeological site and remins not included in
\nSection 3  to be of national importance by giving two months
\nnotice\tof   lts  so   declaring.  The\t Ancient   Monuments
\nPreservation Act,  1904 provides  for  the  preservation  of
\nancient monuments  and objects\tof archaeological, historicl
\nof artistic  interest. Section 2(a) of the Ancient Monuments
\nAct. Section  2 (4)  defines `maintain’ and `maintenance’ to
\ninclude the  fencing, covering\tin, repairing, restoring and
\ncleaning of  protected monument\t and the  dolng of  any\t act
\nwhich may  be necessary\t for the  purpose of  maintaining  a
\nprotected monument or of securing convenient access thereto.
\nSection 3  deals with  `protected monuments’  and empowerers
\nthe Central  Government, by  a notification  in the official
\nGazette, to  declare an\t ancient monument  to be a protected
\nmonument under\tthe said  Act. Section\t11 enjoins  that the
\nCommissioner shall  maintain every  monument in\t respect  of
\nwhich  the   Government\t has  acquired\tany  of\t the  rights
\nmentioned in  Section 4 or which the Government has acquired
\nunder Section 10 etc.
\n     It would,\ttherefore, be  manifest that all ancient and
\nhistoricl monuments  and all archaeological sites and remins
\nor any\tstructure, erection  or monument  of any  tumulus or
\nplace of  interment  shall  be\tdeemed\tto  be\tancient\t and
\nhistorical monument  of archaeological\tsites and  remins of
\nnational importance and shall be so declared for the purpose
\nof Ancient Monuments Act if they have existed for a century;
\nand in\tthe case  of a\tState monument,\t of State importance
\ncovered by  the appropriate  State importance  covered bythe
\nappropriate State  Act. The  point  of\treference  th  these
\nprovisions is  that an\tancient monument  is of\t historical,
\ncultural of  archaeological or\tsculptural or  monolithic of
\nartistic interest  existing for\t a century  is\tof  national
\nimportance of  State importance.  In other  words, either of
\nthem are  required and\tshall  be  protected,  reserved\t and
\nmintained as  national monuments  or State monuments for the
\nbasis which  not only  gives pives  pride to  the people but
\nalso gives  us insighi\tinto past  glory of  our  structure,
\nculture,    sculptural,\t    artistic\tor    archeaological
\naignificance, artistic\tskills and  the vision and wisdom of
\nour ancestors,\twhich should be preserved and perpetuated so
\nthat out  succeeding generaitons  learn the  Skills  of\t our
\nancestors and  traditions, cultural  and civilisation.\tThey
\nwould have  the advantage  to learm  our art,  architecture,
\nascethetic tastes  imbided by the authors of the past and to
\ncontinue the  same tradition for the posterity. Preservation
\nand protection of ancient monuments, is thus the duty of the
\nUnion of India and the State Government concerned in respect
\nof ancient  monuments of  national inportance  or  those  of
\nState  importance  respectively\t to  protect,  preserve\t and
\nmaintain them  by preserving  of  restoring  their  original
\nconditions.\n<\/p>\n
     Coming to the birth, the improvements and the existence
\nof the\tViceregal Lodge, we have the graphic account in that
\nbehalf by  Edward J.Back  in his  `Simla Past  and Present’.
\nBefore adverting  to it,  it is\t of importance\tto note that
\nSimle is  a beautiful  Hill Resort on the small spurs of the
\nlower Himalayas.  At the  beginning  of\t the  last  century,
\nthough Simla did not find place in the world tourist map and
\nremained a small village taken by the British from the Jhind
\nRana in\t 1855 and  then given to Maharaja of Patiala for the
\nassistance  rendered  to  the  British\tin  the\t Nepal\tWar.
\nMaharaja of  Patiala maintained\t Simla as  a samatorium. The
\nBritish, therafter,  had stationed  their Commander  of\t the
\nNorth-Eastern States at Simla. Captain Charles Pratt was the
\nfirst foreigner\t sent as  Superintendent of the Hill States.
\nHe was\tstationed at  Simla. After  survey of  the area, the
\nBritishers discovered  the beauty  and grandeur of Simla and
\nthe hills  and developed  it as a hill resort and ultimately
\nsummer resort  by shifting  the administration from Calcutta
\nand later from Delhi. The first Government General, the Earl
\nof Smherst, for the first time, visitied Simla and stayed in
\nthe  house   of\t Captain  Kennedy,  namely,  Kennedy  House.
\nThereafter  successive\t Governor  Generals   and   Viceroys
\ncontinued  to  successive  Governor  Governor  generals\t and
\nViceroys continued  th stay, apart from Viceregal Lodge, for
\nsome time,  in\tvarious\t houses\t by  name  Bentinck  Castle,
\nAuckland House,\t Strawberry Hill,  Peterhof. Ultimately,  as
\nstated earlier,\t Earl of  Dufferin  had\t the  building\tplas
\napproved and got constructed the Viceregal Lodge and entered
\nfor the\t first time  into  the\tHouse.\tThe  structural\t and
\nmagnificent furmishing\tdone to\t the Viceregel\tLodge  finds
\nexpression delienated  in Buck’s  “Simla Past  and Present”.
\nLady Dufferin  mentioned in  her diary, seeing the furnished
\nbuilding on Sunday, 15th July, 1888 as under;\n<\/p>\n
     “I\t went  to  the\tnew  house  this
\n     afternoon, and  it did look lovely.
\n     It\t was   one   of\t  Simla’s   most
\n     beautiful moments, between showers,
\n     when clouds  and hills,  and  light
\n     and shade,\t all combine  to produce
\n     the  most\t glorious  effects.  One
\n     conld  have   spent  hours\t at  the
\n     window of\tmy unfurnished\tboudoir,
\n     looking out  on the  plains in  the
\n     distance,\twith   a   great   river
\n     flowing through  them  :  at    the
\n     variously\tshaped\t hills\tin   the
\n     foreground, brillinatly coloured in
\n     parts, and\t softened down in others
\n     by the  fleecy clouds floating over
\n     them of  nestling\tin  the\t valleys
\n     between them  or nestiling\t in  the
\n     valliys\tbetween\t    them.    The
\n     approaching sunset,  too, made  the
\n     horizon  gorgeous\t with  red   and
\n     golden  and   pale-blue-tints.  The
\n     result of\tthe whole was to make me
\n     feel that\tin is  a great pity that
\n     we shall  have so\tsuch magnificent
\n     views.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     On 23rd  July, 1888,  they returned to the building and
\nmentioned as under:\n<\/p>\n
     “We are  sending things  up to  the
\n     house and\thope to\t sleep in  it on
\n     Monday. We\t really inhabit\t the new
\n     viceregal Lodge  today (23rd  July,
\n     1888) so  I left  the old\tdirectlu
\n     after  breakfast,\t just  returning
\n     there for\tan hour\t at lunch  time,
\n     and   busied   myself   whole   day
\n     arranging my  room and  my\t things,
\n     and the  furniture in  the drawing-
\n     room. Happily  the weather was very
\n     tolerable, and our beds got up here
\n     dry, D.  and the girls did not come
\n     near the  place till  dinner  time,
\n     when  everything\twas  brilliantly
\n     lighted up by the electric lighting
\n     up and  putting out of the lamps is
\n     so simpe  that it is quite pleasure
\n     to go  round one’s\t room touching a
\n     button  here   and\t there,\t and  to
\n     experiment with various amounsts of
\n     light. Afrer dinner we went down to
\n     look at  he  Kitchen,  which  is  a
\n     splendid  apartment,   with   white
\n     tiles six\tfeet high  all round the
\n     walls, looking so clean and bright.
\n     We sit in the smaller drawing-room,
\n     which is  still a\tlittle stiff and
\n     company- like, but it will soon get
\n     into   out\t  ways\t and   be   more
\n     comfortale.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     On August\t8, 1888, they had first entertainment in the
\nnew house and the book contains its account as under:\n<\/p>\n
     “We had  our first entertainment in
\n     our new  house tonight.  It  looked
\n     perfectly lovely, and one could see
\n     that every one was quite astonished
\n     at it  and at  the softness  of the
\n     light. First  we had a large dinner
\n     for sixty-six  people at  one  long
\n     table.  The   electric   light   is
\n     enough, but  as candelabra ornament
\n     the table we had some on it. At one
\n     end of  the room  there was a side-
\n     board  covered   with  gold  plate,
\n     etc., end\tat the\tother end double
\n     doors were\t open,\tand  across  the
\n     ball-roomb one  saw the  band which
\n     played during  dinner. We\thad  all
\n     the  Council  and\t‘Personages”  of
\n     Simla, and the minister, Asman Jha,
\n     from  Hyderabad,  who  brought  his
\n     suite. After dinner people began to
\n     arrive  for  the  dance.  When  not
\n     dancing,\teveryone    was\t  amused
\n     roaming about  the new  rooms,  and
\n     going up to the first floor, whence
\n     they  could   look\t down  upon  the
\n     party.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     “Vicregal\tLodge\tpossess,  as  it
\n     rightly should,  one  of  the  most
\n     commanding position  in  Simla.  It
\n     lies to  the extreme  west\t of  the
\n     station, and  is one  of the  first
\n     objects to\t strike the  eye as  the
\n     traveler  approaches   from  Kalka.
\n     Described briefly\tit consists of a
\n     main block\t of three  stories,  and
\n     another called the Kitchen wing, of
\n     five storeys,  but\t the  latter  is
\n     built on  the side\t of a precipice,
\n     and commences  three storeys  below
\n     the ground\t level of th emain block
\n     an deast  wing; so that viewed from
\n     the north-east the house has a very
\n     lofty,\tsomewhat      forbidding
\n     appearance, and might at a distance
\n     be mistaken for a medieval castle.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     The    style     of    architecture
\n     throughout is  English  Renaissance
\n     (English Renaissance (Elizabethan),
\n     the masonry of the walling is light
\n     blue  limestone,  and  the\t wrought
\n     stone work\t is all of sand stone of
\n     a very  fine  grain  and  beautiful
\n     light  gray  tint.\t This  stone  is
\n     uniform in\t texture, an dis capable
\n     of\t being\t worked\t to  very  short
\n     arises; the  moulding are all true,
\n     and where\tcarving has been carried
\n     out it  is\t bold  and  sharp.  Very
\n     litle stone  carving has been used,
\n     but what  there is\t of it\trelieves
\n     the  plain\t  parts,  and\tis  very
\n     effective. The  walling  stone  was
\n     quarred about  five miles\taway and
\n     was transported  to Simla on mules,
\n     but much  of this\twas found  to be
\n     porous and\t was replaced  with hard
\n     stone from\t kalka and sanjouli at a
\n     cost  of\tnearly\ta   lakh  and  a
\n     quarter. The  cut stone was brought
\n     in for 50 miles from th efool of th
\n     ehills near  kalka. Carrying on the
\n     labour in\tthe winter  was a matter
\n     of much  difficulty as  the  masons
\n     refused   to    work   except   for
\n     extremely\t high\t wages,\t   while
\n     carpenterrs were  not obtainable at
\n     any price.\t A small tower surmounts
\n     the house from which flies the flag
\n     which denotes  the presence  of the
\n     Viceroy in Simal. In this tower are
\n     the  water\t  tanks\t into  which  is
\n     pumped   the    supply   from   the
\n     municipal mains,  and the view from
\n     its  summit   on  a  clear\t day  is
\n     magnificent.  To  the  northe,  and
\n     north-east particularly, the ranges
\n     of\t perpetual  snows  are\tseen  to
\n     great advantage  over the\tpeaks of
\n     the nearer\t ranges,  while\t on  the
\n     west,  especially\t in  the  rains,
\n     there is  grand view of the plains,
\n     wi;th the\tsutlej winding\taway  in
\n     the distance.  The house,\tgrounds,
\n     and approaches  are now  lighted by
\n     electricity. There\t are about 1,000
\n     lamps, the\t majority of  16 candle-
\n     power, and\t the engines  which used
\n     to supply\tthe power  situated near
\n     the main entrance gate and close to
\n     the stable\t range.\t This  shed  has
\n     since  been   dismantled\tand   is
\n     convereted into  a transformer room
\n     on\t the   ground  floor,  with  the
\n     offices of\t the  Superintendent  of
\n     Viceregal\tLodge\ton   the   first
\n     floor.The\tengines\t were  sold  and
\n     replaced by a taransformer. Inside,
\n     the house\tis entrance  hall,  with
\n     its gallery  leading to  the  ball-
\n     room, being  perhaps  the\tfeature.
\n     This  gallery   is\t fifty\tfeet  in
\n     height, ninety  feet long, but only
\n     eighteen  feet   broad,  which   is
\n     really much too narrow.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     The    woodwork,\t  however,    is
\n     beautiful.\t  For\t instance,   the
\n     treads, newels,  and  handrails  of
\n     the main staircase are of teak, the
\n     blusters  are   solid  walnut,  the
\n     carriages and concealed portions of
\n     the framing  of the  stairs are  of
\n     deodar, some  of the carving  being
\n     very  bold\t  and  efective.   Heavy
\n     velvet curtains  divide the  galler
\n     from the  ball-room,  an  apartment
\n     seventy feet  by thirty feet with a
\n     side annexee  seventy feet\t by  ten
\n     feet on  the west,\t and a vestibule
\n     seventeen feet  by thirty\tfeet  on
\n     the  east.\t  These\t really\t  are  a
\n     portion  of   the\troom\tas  they
\n     communicate   with\t it  by\t   large
\n     openings twenty  feet wide. Another
\n     velvet curtain   hangs ovet opening
\n     to\t the   the  state   drawing-room
\n     ,sixty  feet   by\tthirty\tfeet,  a
\n     chrming room,  with the wall panels
\n     hung  in\tsilk  tapestry\tand  the
\n     woodwork painted  white. The  upper
\n     part of  th egallery  is hung  with
\n     Japanese paper  in white  and  gold
\n     heavily embosse.  Perhaps the state
\n     dining-room  appeals  most\t to  the
\n     ordinary visiter.\tThis is panelled
\n     all round\tten feet high with teak,
\n     the upper two feet being in pierced
\n     strap  work,   and\t supporting  the
\n     shields charged  with the\tarmorial
\n     bearings of  the several Governors-
\n     General and  viceroys of India, all
\n     illuminated in  the proper heraldic
\n     colours. These  now make a splendid
\n     decoration. The  walls are\t divided
\n     by means  of  pilasters  supporting
\n     the ceiling  beams, and their upper
\n     portion is\t hung with  crimson silk
\n     and woolen tapestry, while there is
\n     a good  deal of bold carving in the
\n     room. On  the Occasion  of a  state
\n     dinner the\t scene is a particularly
\n     brilliant one. The furnishing of th
\n     ehouse was\t originally done  partly
\n     by Messrs. Maple & Co. who sent out
\n     their assistants  for the\tpurpose;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     many  of\tthe  simpler   articles,
\n     however,  were   made   by\t  punjab
\n     carpenters\t   whose     work    was
\n     excellent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     Lord  Lansdowne,\tduring\this   term  of\toffice\tmade
\nimprovements and  the grounds  surrounding  the\t house\twere
\nplanted out  with trees\t and shrubs.  Many improvement which
\nwere designed mainly for t h epurpose of garden parties were
\ncarried out  under the\tsupervision of\tMr. A.\tParsons, the
\nEnglish Authority  on  gardening  in  Simla.  The  Viceregal
\nentertainments were conducted in large scale.\n<\/p>\n
     When Lord\tCurzon took  over th  echarge in  1889, Lady
\nCurzon look  interest in  renovating the  building. She\t got
\nhung damask,  sky-blue and  pale green\tin the\ttwo  drawing
\nrooms, yellow  in the  ball room.  Most pleasant  part of th
\nehgouse was,  in their\tview ,\tits grounds  and Lord Curzon
\nadded to  them an  avenue of limes; the rose `pergola’ which
\nwas such  a typical  feature of many large Victorian gardens
\nand parks,  was designed  by Lord  Curzon. Lady\t Curzon felt
\nthat “a\t look out  of the windows makes up for it all, and I
\ncan live  on views for five years “(as mentioned in “A\tHill
\nStation Simla  in  British  India’s  by\t pat  barr  and\t Ray
\nDesmond. In  this behalf, it is of interest to note that the
\nBritish authors have not lost their gratitude to mention the
\nnative people,\ttheir glamour  and simplicity.\tOne  of\t the
\ngreatest Telugu\t poets. Sri  Sri in  his ` Mahaprastayan’had
\nsaid that  the beauty  of Taj Mhal cannot be measured by the
\nEmperor Shahjahan’s  pointed of\t view who got it constructed
\nin memory  of his  beloved queen  Mumtaj mahal; but from its
\ndelicate  craftsmanship\t  and  carvings\t  of  the   workers,
\narchitects and\tthe masons  who built the mantion, the world
\nrenowned  national   heritage  of   our\t nation.  Similarly,
\nreflections can\t be found from th emasons, the men and women
\nwho built  the Viceregala  Lodge under\tthe supervision\t and
\nguidance of  Mr. Henry\tIrvin, the  Architect, and the Chief
\nSuperintendent fo  the work assisted by Mr. F.B. Harbert and
\nL.M. Seth  clay as  Executive Engineer\tand M\/s\t A.Scott  T.
\nMacpheryn and T. English Assistant Engineers as mentioned by
\nMr. Edward  J. Buck  in his  Second Edition recorded from th
\nediary of lady Dufferin on July 16th 1887 as under:\n<\/p>\n
     “D. took Hermie and me all over the
\n     house in  the afternoon. We climbed
\n     up the  most terrible  places,  and
\n     stood on single planks over yawning
\n     chasms.  The  workpeople  are  very
\n     amusing to\t look at  especially the
\n     young    ladies\t in    neckless,
\n     bracelets, earrings,  tight  cotton
\n     trousers, turbans\twith long  veils
\n     hanging  down  their  backs,  nd  a
\n     large earthen-were\t basin of mortar
\n     on their  heads.  They  walk  about
\n     with the carriage of empresses, and
\n     seem as  much at ease on the top of
\n     the roof  as on  the grounmd-floor;
\n     most picturesque  masons they area.
\n     The house will really be beautiful,
\n     and  the\tviews  all   round   are
\n     magnificent.  I   saw  the\t  plains
\n     distinctly from  my boudoir window,
\n     and I  am glad  to have  that  open
\n     view, as  I shall\tnot then feel so
\n     buried in the hills.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     Thus, the\tgreat Indian masons, men and women had built
\nthe magnificent\t ancient monument with their hear, sweat and
\nlabour to  be enjoyed  by the Viceroys\/Governor Generals who
\nconquered the  country because\tof disunity among th eIndian
\nrulers and  because some  rulers connived  with the  British
\nforces. Disintegration\tfo the\tSociety was  on\t account  of
\nregional and  religious differences,  caste  structures\t and
\n,ostly personal\t feuds and  rivalries among  the  Rajas\t and
\nMaharajas themselves.\n<\/p>\n
     As\t stated\t  hereinbefore,\t the  freedom  movement\t was
\nlaunched in  a non-violent manner, the Father of the Nation,
\nGandhiji  called  by  the  people  with\t love  “Bapuji”\t and
\nsustained as people’s movements was carried on over years at
\nthe sacrifice  of life\tof numberless patriot men and women.
\nThe Viceregal  Lodge witnessed\ttwo  historical\t conferences
\nheld by the Indian leaders with the Viceroy\/Governor General
\nand in\tparticular Lord\t Mountbaten who\t was instrumental in
\nhanding over  the  Bharat  to  us.  The\t ancient  India\t got
\ndissected into\ttwo parts, viz., Bharat and pakistan, due to
\ntwo-nation theory  successfully campaigned  by Sri Jinnah on
\nbehalf of  the Muslims,\t who later  regretted for the damage
\ndone by\t him to\t the great  nation.  The  emergence  of\t two
\nnations ultimately  resulted in\t the halocaust\tof  communal
\ndisturbances and  loss of  lives of innocent British Indians
\nwho included  both Hindus  and Muslims.\t In this  behalf, in
\n‘Freedom  at   Midnight’  by  Larry  Collins  and  Dominique
\nlapierre it  is mentioned  in Chapter  VI titled “A Precious
\nLittle place,  Simla, May  1947” precluding  the the  events
\nleading to  the division  of India.  It is mentioned therein
\nthat during may 1947, Lord Mountbetten had stationed himself
\nin Simla  in this  very Viceregal  Lodge. The  authors\thave
\nnarrated their research in the following words:\n<\/p>\n
     “Each year\t in mid-April\twhen the
\n     warm weather arrived, the Viceroy’s
\n     departure for  Simla in  his  white
\n     and gold  viceregal train\tsignaled
\n     that the  mountain capital’s season
\n     had begun.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     It is  mentioned at  page 123  that “Much\tof that\t old
\nSimla was  already  was\t already  gone\tby  the\t time  Louis
\nMountbatten arrived  in early  may 1947. Now an Indian could
\neven wald  down the  Mall-provided he  was nto\twearing\t the
\nnational  dress\t  of  his  country.”  Earlier,\tIdians\twere
\nprohibited from\t going there.  “Simla changed with an easily
\nforeseen rapidity  after independence.\tThe Indians, because
\nof its\tconnotations, abandoned\t it as\ttheir summer capital
\nThe only thing which remains of th eold Simla, ‘M.S. Oberoi,
\nowner fo  th ececil’s  Hotel and Chairman of Oberoi’s Hotels
\nLtd., lamenated\t in 1973,`is  the  climate’.  The  Viceregal
\nLodge also  was used  as a parat of the Legislative wing for
\nth esummer  session fo parliament and it, therefore, has the
\nlaste of  transacting legislative  business with  the Indian
\nlegislators partly  composed with the British Administrators
\nLord Mountbatten  had finalised\t the Plan in Simla to divide
\nIndia\tinto three  countries, namely,\tBengal, composed  of
\nEast  and  West\t Bengal,  Pakistan  and\t India,\t apart\tfrom
\nretention of  the respective  areas had\t by; named rulers. a
\ngraphic account was given as to how Lord Mountbatten had his
\nplan secretly\tdisclosed,  by\tinviting  pandit  Jawaharlal
\nNehru, the first prime Minister, who was a very close friend
\nof Lord\t Mountbatten and an important spokesman on behalf of
\nthe congress party, to Simla. Lord Mountbatten had shown his
\nplan of\t division of India. The violent reaction fo Panditji
\nwas noted as mentioned at page 126 as under:\n<\/p>\n
     “The  British  had\t run  India  for
\n     three    centuries\t    with     the
\n     byword`Divide   and   Rule’.   They
\n     proposed to  leave it on a new one:\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     ‘Fragment\t      and\t  Quit’.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     Whitefaced,shaking with rage, Nehru
\n     stalked into  the\tbedroom\t of  the
\n     confident\t krishna   Menon   who’d
\n     accompanied him  to Simla,\t with  a
\n     furious gesture, he hurled the plan
\n     on to his bed.”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
“It’s all over!’s he shouted.”\n<\/p>\n
     Because of\t the reaction of Panditji to such a division
\nof India, Mountbatten realised that he cannot succeed in his
\neffort\tto   hand  over\t  the  power   to  the\t people\t  in
\nfragmentation.Therefore, he  redrafted the  plan and  at the
\ncall of\t th ethen  prime Minister,  Mr. Atlee,\the  went  to
\nLondon, had  discussions and  ultimately succeeded to divide
\nthe country  as India,\ti.e.,  Bharaata\t and  pakistan;\t and
\nIndependence  Act  was\tenacted\t by  British  Parliament  in
\nconclusion. It would, thus, be seen that Viceregal lodge, as
\nstated earlier,\t is a  mute witness  to the  destruction  of
\nIndians, their\tsubjugation as subject fo British empire who
\nruled the  country for\tover three  centuries by ‘divide and
\nrule’ The  agony of the Indians and the glory of the British
\nempire and  the Simla  as its  summer  seat  for  the  Asian
\nBritish\t empire\t was  witnessed\t by  this  Viceregal  lodge.
\nEqually, it  is also  a witness\t to heralding  of new era of
\nindependence though  the ancient  India was  fragmented into
\ntwo nationsw,  namely, India,  i.e.,  Bharat  and  Pakistan.
\nIndia,\tthus   became  a   sovereign,\tsocialist,   secular
\ndemocrataic republic under a written constitution. Democracy
\nis its\tbasic feature;\tConstitutionalism, rule\t of law\t and
\ndemocratic  governance\t as  basic  means  to  establish  an
\negalitarian social  order in  which every citizen of Bharata
\nis entitled  to enjoy justice social, economic and political
\nliberties, and\tequality of  status and of opportunity, with
\ndignity of  person and\tfraternity among all the sections of
\nthe society as an integrated Bharat. Such being the historic
\nevidence furnished  by a Viceregal Lodge, is it not the duty
\nof the\tIndians and  of the Government of Indian to preserve
\nViceregal Lodge as a monument of national importance for the
\nposterity of  the historic  evidence so\t that  every  Indian
\ncitizen while  visiting Shimla would have the glimpses of it
\nto recall  the fully  of disunity, teaching us the lesson of
\nbeing united  so as  not to  destroy ourselves once over and
\nlose  democracy\t  and  liberties  on  account  of  disunity,
\ndishaormony on\tground of  religion, region, caste, language
\nand denial  of al  opportunities. The  facilities to our own
\nweaker segments of the society’ of equality of opportunities
\nand of\tstatus to improve excellence in chosen facets of the
\nrespective lives.  Answer is  obviously `yes’.\tIf we forget
\nthe past and repeat the same mistake, we would stand to lose
\nour nation’s unity and integrity; stand to lose our nation’s
\nunity and  integrity;  stand  to  lose\tthe  opportunity  to
\nintegrate  into\t  the  world  our  great  democratic  Bharat
\nRepublic. Viceregal lodge teaches us these lessons and it is
\nfor all\t of us,\t individually and  collectively,  to  learn,
\nawake, arise and work for integration, unity and fraternity,
\nwhich are our fundamental duties.\n<\/p>\n
     In this  backdrop, when  the writ petition was filed by
\nway of\tpublic Interest\t litigation, this  court issued rule
\nnist on Novemberr 19,1990 to all the respondents. Initially,
\na stand\t was taken  in the  counter-affidavit filed  by\t the
\nunion of  India that  they had\tdecided to use a part of the
\narea for  commercial  purpose  and  the\t rest  of  the\tmain
\nbuilding to  maintain and restore the glory of the Viceregal
\nLodge. Thus  the decision to convert the historical building
\ninto a\ttourist hotel  was sought  to be  justified  on\t the
\nground that  the Ministry  of Tourism has encoraged a scheme
\nof heritage resorts which essentially  means preservation of
\nthe  old   properties  and  their  use\tin  such  a  limited
\ncommercial manner so as to generate enough sources to ensure
\nthat  the  properties  will  not  crumble.  As\tregards\t the
\nconstruction of\t\t\tFive star Hotel in the area,
\nit is stated thus:\n<\/p>\n
     “The premises  may not  necessarily
\n     be converted into a five stat hotel
\n     as commonly  known but  the concept
\n     plan will\tbe more\t of  a\theritage
\n     resort,  which  would  enhance  and
\n     project the  cultural  identity  of
\n     the area instead of destroying it,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     This Court was not satisfied with the counter-affidavit
\nfiled on  behalf of  the Government  of India. Therefore, it
\ngave directions\t on November24,\t 1995  to  have\t the  matter
\nreconsidered by the Cabinet sub-affidavit was again filed on
\nJanuary 22,1996\t stating  that\t“In  August  1982,the  union
\nCabinet\t took  a  decision  that  the  Indian  Institute  of
\nAdvanced Studies  which is  housed in  the Rashtrapati Nivas
\nbuilding  should  be  shifted  to  some\t other\tbuilding  in
\nShimla”. It was further stated that “At a subsequent cabinet
\ncommittee meeting held on 8th May, 1990, it was decided that
\nthe entire  campus earlier  known as  viceregal Lodge may be
\ntransferred to\tthe Ministry  of Toruism for being developed
\nas a  major tourist resort by the ITDC\twith the stipulation
\nthat  the  main\t building  will\t not  be  used\tfor  tourist
\npurposes. It  was  also\t decided    that  the  Institute  of
\nAdvanced Studies  which\t is  housed  in\t te  campus  of\t the
\nRashtrapathi Nivas  Estate may\tbe shifted to an alternative
\nsite offered  by the  Government of  Himachal Pradesh.”\t “IN
\nFebruary, 1992\tthe matter  was\t further  discussed  by\t the
\ncommittee  of  secretaries  and\t the  earlier  decision\t was
\namplified to the effect that the main Viceregal Lodge with a
\npart  of  the  appurtenant  land  should  be  preservad\t and
\nmantained as  a national museum and th esurrounding land may
\nbe handed  over the Ministry of Tourism for development of a
\ntourist resort.” Therefore,  it was stated that “it owuld be
\nunnecessary for\t the matter  to be taken to the Cabinet once
\nawgaing for  a decision\t about the  preseration of  the main
\nbuilding and  the appurtenant land as heritage oroperty”. It
\nwas  also   stated  that   there  were\t“no  plans  for\t the
\ndevelopment of any part of the Rashtrapati Nivas estate into
\na five-star  hotel complex. No plan for any such purpose has
\nbeen discussed or finalised nor has any budgetary allocation
\nbeen made  for the  said purpose  in the  Eighth  Five\tyear
\nplan”. The  last pare  itself is a manifest of the intention
\nof the\tGovernment that its usein future as a tourist resort
\nhad not\t been ruled  out. As  a consequence,  by Order dated
\nFebruary 27,1996, this Court stated thus:\n<\/p>\n
     “the Chief Engineer of the CPWD, In
\n     charge of\tthe maintenance\t of Vice
\n     Regal  Lodge  has\tbrought\t to  the
\n     Court echology  album of the entire
\n     area. it was stated that around the
\n     buildinig, as  at present, there is
\n     no\t proposal  for\tconstruction  fo
\n     tourism   hotels\t as   originally
\n     proposed, but  there is a direction
\n     of the Division Bench of the Shimla
\n     High Court directing the Secretary,
\n     Human  Resources  Developments  and
\n     Urban Development\tshould decide as
\n     to\t  what\t  is   the   extent   of
\n     appartenant   land\t   around    the
\n     building  beyond\twhich  the  CPWD
\n     intends to\t construct quarters  and
\n     office building  for the  employees
\n     transferred and  stationed there or
\n     which is part of the property lease
\n     dout to  the Institute  of\t Advance
\n     Studies.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     This Court\t observed that since th eGovernment of India
\nhad admitted  in the counteraffidavit that the building part
\nof the\tappurtenant land  would\t be  preserved\tas  National
\nMonuments by  the Archaeological  Department,  the  question
\nthat had  arisen was what would be the appurtenant land. The
\ncourt was  informed that  around 65  acres was the land near
\nthe main  building at  th eovservatory\thill and 25 acres of
\nthe land was situated elsewhere at prospect hill. This Court
\nindicated to  the learned senior counsel for the respondents
\nthat the  appurtenant land  which was  kept vacant,  as\t was
\nadmitted in  their counter-affidavit,  should  be  25  acres
\nsurrounding the\t entire building. The Court directed that if
\nthe said  land is  used for  any other\tpublci purpose, lide
\nestablishment of  tourist hotels  or office buildings, which
\nwas  originally\t  proposed  and\t  resolved  by\tthe  cabinet
\nResolution, the same should be beyond that area and that too
\nwithout contravention  fo the  Forest Act and other relevant
\nlaws. The  counsel sought and was granted time for producing
\ntentative  plan\t  proposed  by\tthem  without  touching\t the
\nappurtenant land.  When the  matter had\t come  up  for\tnext
\nhearing\t on  April  3,1996  counsel  was  not  present\tand,
\ntherefore, the\tmatter was adjourned indicating that in case
\nof non-appearance, appropriate orders would be passed.\n<\/p>\n
     A Counter-affidavit  dated April  26,1996 was  filed on
\nbehalf of  the Government  of India  stating therein  that a
\nmeeting of  the Secretary,  Department of Urban Development,
\nSecretary,  Ministry   of  Uraban  Affairs  and\t Employment,
\nSecretary,  Department\t of  Education,\t Ministry  of  Human
\nResources  Development,\t  Joint\t Secretary,   Department  of
\nTourism, Ministry  of Civil  aviation and  Tourism and other
\nofficials concerned  with the  matter had met on 22nd March,
\n1996 and decided as under:\n<\/p>\n
     “a)  The\tAppurtenant  land  arond
\n     Rashtrapati    Niwas     (on    the
\n     observatory Hill)\twas agreed to be
\n     24.27 acres.  This\t was  determined
\n     both from the engineering angle and
\n     with  a   view  to\t protecting  the
\n     natural   surroundings    of    the
\n     Rashtrapathi  Niwas.  It  was  also
\n     agreed   that   the   building   of
\n     Rashtrapti\t   Niwas     and     the
\n     surrounding appurtenant  area  will
\n     be earmarked  as a\t “heritage area”
\n     whereinno\t construction\tactivity
\n     should be permitted or undertaken.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     b) Om  regard to  the area\t outside
\n     the heritage  area, a  master  plan
\n     would be  prepared by  the Ministry
\n     of\t Urban\tAffairs\t and  Employment
\n     (Department of  Urban Developemt  )
\n     in consultation  with  Ministry  of
\n     Human  Resources  Developmet  Civil
\n     aviation and Tourism (Department of
\n     Tourism), Ministry\t of  Environment
\n     and  Forest   and\tconcerned  local
\n     agencies like  the shimal Municipal
\n     corporation,  The\t Town\tplanning
\n     Department\t and  the  state  Forest
\n     Department, so  as to  ensure  that
\n     the environment  and ecology of the
\n     are ais  preserved and  no activity
\n     be taken  which  may  endanger  the
\n     environmental position.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     c) In  regard to the remaining part
\n     of\t Rashtrapati  Nivas  Estate  (on
\n     Prospect Hill)  the land  could  be
\n     put to  such use  as the Government
\n     may determine  from time  to  time,
\n     subject to\t the due compliance with
\n     the applicable  law  including  the
\n     Forest  Act,   Town  Planning  Act,
\n     Local Municipal Law and others.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
     It was  further stated  therein that  the\tas  per\t the
\ndetailed plan  of the Rashrtapati Niwas Estate placed before
\nthis court, the designated boundary of the Rashtrapati Nivas
\nBuilding with  the appurtenant land agreed upon as “heritage
\narea” was  shown by  a broken line in brown colour. The area
\ntherein suggested  was 24.27  acres in place of 25 acres, to
\nbe preserved  within the  natural boundaries  formed by\t the
\nroads encircling  Rashtrapati Nivas.  On may 6, 1997 learned
\ncounsel for th epetitioner was directed to verify and make a
\nreport with  regard to\tthe plan  submitted and\t whether any
\nfurther\t  modification\t was   required.   Counter-affidavit
\naccompanied by\tthe reports  was  filed\t on  behalf  of\t the
\npetitioner stating  that the  Viceregal Lodge consists of an
\narea of\t 90 acres  which included  ancillary buildings\tthat
\nconstituted the\t whole estate  of the  viceregal Lodge.\t The
\nsaid buildings\tnamely, Corzon\tHouse, Del  Ville,  Bilaspur
\nHouse, Bilaspur\t Cottage and  Squires Halla  have  not\tbeen
\nincluded in  the plan  submitted by  the Government and they
\nwere not  included within  the heritage\t area. It  was\talso
\nstated that  the viceregal  Lodge, as  suggested  by  Intact
\nrequires repairs for the upkeep of the said monument and the
\nsaid  building\trequires  to  be  notified  as\ta  protected
\nmonument and  the memorabilia  awithin the  Lodge should  be
\nnotifies as  protected antiquities.  A report in support was
\nalso accordingly  filed. As  a large  part of  the  building
\nrequires repairs,  preservation\t adn  restoration  to  their
\noriginal form,\tfor effectuating  the grandeur and beauty of
\nth  ebuilding,\t direction  was\t  given\t to  look  into\t the
\nobjections raised  in the enclosed report and th ematter was
\nadjournd.  After  compliance  thereof,\ta  report  has\tbeen
\nsubmitted  demarcating\t the   area   and   identifying\t  th
\necontiguous land  in th\t eplan appended\t to the\t report\t but
\nnotification in\t that behalf had not been issued. Therefore,
\nby proceedings\tdaated August  19,1996,\t the  Government  of
\nIndia  was  directed  to  notify  the  entire  area  of\t the
\nViceregal Lodge\t as  a\tprotected  ancient  monument.  After
\nseveral adjounmants,  ultimately the notification came to be
\nissued on  6th May,  1997 with the boundaries as directed in
\nthe orders and mandamus in that behalf stands complied with.
\nThus, the protection and preservation of Viceregal Lodge and
\nthe appurtenant land as historical heritage has become faite
\naccompli by orders of this Court.\n<\/p>\n
     It is  needless to\t mention that  as soon as the Indian
\nInstitute of  Advance studies vacates the building and hands
\nit over\t to the\t Archaeological Department,  the  Government
\nshould provide\tthe necessary  budget for  effecting repairs
\nand restoring  to  the\tbuilding  its  nataural\t beauty\t and
\ngrandeur. It  is also  necessary that its proper maintenance
\nand preservation  is undertaken\t as an\ton-going process  to
\nprotect the  historical\t heritage  and\tneeded\trepairs\t are
\neffected from  time to\ttime. We  avail this  opportunity to
\ndirect the  Government of  India to  maintain  all  national
\nmonuments under the respective Acts referred to above and to
\nensure that  all of them are properly maintained so that the
\ncultural and historical heritage of India and the beauty and
\ngrandeur  fo   the  monuments,\tsculptures  secured  through
\nbreathless and\tpassionate labour workmenship, craftsmanship
\nand the\t skills of the Indian architects, artists and masons
\nis continued  to be preserved. They are pride of Indians and
\nplaces of  public visit.  The  tourist\tvisitors  should  be
\nproperly  regulated   collection  of   funds   by   way\t  of
\nadmission\/entrance fee\tshould bt  conscientiously accounted
\nfor and\t utilised for  their upkeep  and  maintenance  under
\nrespect\t  regulations\/rules.   Adequate\t  annual   budgetary
\nprovisions shoudl be provided. In this behalf, it may not be
\nout of\tplace to mention that if one goes to Williamsburg in
\nUnited states  of  America,  the  first\t settlement  of\t the
\nBritishers therein  is preserved  as a\ttourist\t resort\t and
\nthough it  is one  in th erow, its originality is maintained
\nand busying business activity goes on in and around th earea
\nattaracting daily  hundreds of\ttourists from  all over\t the
\nworld. Similar\tpalces of  interest, though of recent orign,
\nneed to\t be preserved and maintained as manifestation of our
\ncultural heritage  or historical  evidence. Similar  efforts
\nshould\talso   be  made\t by  the  Government  of  India,  in
\nparticular  the\t  Tourism  Department,\tto  attract  foreign
\ntourists   and to  give them  good account  of our  past and
\nglory of  the people  of India,\t in particular\tthe  Tourism
\nDepartment, to\tatatract foreign  tourists and\tto give them
\ngood account of our past and glory of th epeople of India as
\nmessage to  other countries and territories. Equally all the
\nState Governments would do well vis-a-vis monuments of State
\nimportantm though given power under Entry 12, List II of the
\nSeventh Schedule to the Constitution. From this perspective,
\nthe  petitioner\t  has  served  a  great\t cause\tof  national
\nimportance and\twe place  on record  his effort\t to have the
\nViceregal  Lodge  preserved  and  maintained;  but  for\t his
\npainstaking efforts,  it would\thave been  desecrated into a
\nFive Star  Hotel and  in no  time “We,\tthe people of India”
\nwould have lost our ancient historical heritage.\n<\/p>\n
     The writ petition is accordingly disposed of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Supreme Court of India Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of … on 27 March, 1997 Bench: K. Ramaswamy, G. B. Pattanaik PETITIONER: RAJEEV MANKOTIA Vs. RESPONDENT: THE SECRETARY TO THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA & ORS. DATE OF JUDGMENT: 27\/03\/1997 BENCH: K. RAMASWAMY, G. B. PATTANAIK ACT: HEADNOTE: JUDGMENT: THE 27TH DAY OF […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supreme-court-of-india"],"yoast_head":"\nRajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of ... on 27 March, 1997 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of ... on 27 March, 1997 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1997-03-26T18:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-06-14T15:17:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Legal India Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@legaliadmin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Legal_india\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Legal India Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"33 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Legal India Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea\"},\"headline\":\"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of … on 27 March, 1997\",\"datePublished\":\"1997-03-26T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-14T15:17:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997\"},\"wordCount\":6566,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Supreme Court of India\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997\",\"name\":\"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of ... on 27 March, 1997 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"1997-03-26T18:30:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-06-14T15:17:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of … on 27 March, 1997\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/\",\"name\":\"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\",\"description\":\"Search and read the latest judgements, orders, and rulings from the Supreme Court of India and all High Courts. A comprehensive database for lawyers, advocates, and law students.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Free judgements of Supreme Court & High Court of India | Legal India\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\",\"alternateName\":\"Legal India\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/legal-india-icon.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/5\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/legal-india-icon.jpg\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/LegalindiaCom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/Legal_india\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea\",\"name\":\"Legal India Admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Legal India Admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/legaliadmin\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.legalindia.com\\\/judgments\\\/author\\\/legal-india-admin\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of ... on 27 March, 1997 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of ... on 27 March, 1997 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","og_url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997","og_site_name":"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/","article_published_time":"1997-03-26T18:30:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-06-14T15:17:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Legal India Admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@legaliadmin","twitter_site":"@Legal_india","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Legal India Admin","Est. reading time":"33 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997"},"author":{"name":"Legal India Admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea"},"headline":"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of … on 27 March, 1997","datePublished":"1997-03-26T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-14T15:17:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997"},"wordCount":6566,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Supreme Court of India"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997","name":"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of ... on 27 March, 1997 - Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website"},"datePublished":"1997-03-26T18:30:00+00:00","dateModified":"2015-06-14T15:17:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/rajeev-mankotia-vs-the-secretary-to-the-president-of-on-27-march-1997#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Rajeev Mankotia vs The Secretary To The President Of … on 27 March, 1997"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/","name":"Free Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","description":"Search and read the latest judgements, orders, and rulings from the Supreme Court of India and all High Courts. A comprehensive database for lawyers, advocates, and law students.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Free judgements of Supreme Court & High Court of India | Legal India","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#organization","name":"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India","alternateName":"Legal India","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/09\/legal-india-icon.jpg","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Judgements of Supreme Court & High Court | Legal India"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LegalindiaCom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/Legal_india"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/#\/schema\/person\/0bfdffe9059fb8bb24a86d094609c5ea","name":"Legal India Admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4faa9d728ed1af3b73d52225c7f12901ac726fe6f7ea0a3348a1d51f3a930987?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Legal India Admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.legalindia.com","https:\/\/x.com\/legaliadmin"],"url":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/author\/legal-india-admin"}]}},"modified_by":null,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.legalindia.com\/judgments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}