Legal proceedings were initiated by the Supreme Court of India through official notices to both the Central Government and Delhi Government after a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed. The petition argues that the Jantar Mantar is no longer an ideal site for large protests and it poses huge administrative and logistical problems for the surrounding cities.
The court, led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, stressed the gravity of the matter before the court. The Supreme Court recognized the key points of the petition and the court observed that frequent demonstrations at Jantar Mantar lead to the ingress and egress of essential services (medical needs and emergency transport) to be disrupted. It recognized the acute civic needs and the Supreme Court directed Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to seek urgent advice from the concerned authorities and set up a separate hearing for a detailed judicial examination.
The legal challenge on the part of Satish Chand Kaushik through advocate Aakarshan Aditya also brought the issue of larger political demonstrations and public safety to the attention of the court. The petitioner's counsel pointed out recent political developments at the time. Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal had convened a townhall meeting and at that time his decision to lead a march to the Prime Minister's residence was taken. The counsel told the court to take the first step to prevent any escalation and cited past events to highlight the need for preventive administrative measures.
Confronting threats about upcoming political marches and law and order issues, the Chief Justice said that the law enforcement and administrative apparatus would be able to handle the public gathering effectively. The court assured the petitioner that the authorities have the training and operations to deal with them properly. Judges will also intervene in the case of any systemic misconduct by the administration, but they would not issue a pre-emptive order on that particular application and the core petition on the other protest site would remain in play.
