[Publication of Dr BR Ambedkar literature] "Not an adversarial litigation:" Bombay High Court to Maharashtra govt

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday sought a status report from the Maharashtra government on its decision to halt its project of publishing the literature of Dr BR Ambedkar..In December 2021, a Bench of Justices PB Varale and SM Modak had taken note of a news item published in Marathi daily Loksatta dated November 24, 2021, about the project. The report stated that the volumes of Dr Ambedkar's literature being published were in high demand. However, due to logistical difficulties, it was not possible for the government press to meet the supply.The Court had then taken suo motu cognizance of the same and registered the present case..During the hearing of the plea, the Bench clarified that the suo motu case was initiated to raise an important issue and was not to be treated as an adversarial litigation. The Bench appointed Advocate Swaraj Jadhav to prosecute the cause, after which he filed a petition to which the Bench sought a response to..On Wednesday, the court-appointed counsel informed the Bench that there were several important speeches given by Dr Ambedkar in several countries, most of which were published widely in the international media. He prayed for directions to source such writings and speeches published by the international media..The Bench, however, opined that the State had on its own constituted a committee to collate resources and no direction to that effect was deemed necessary."When the State took a decision to publish Ambedkar's speeches and writings, there was no bar on those published in the international media. We don't think a specific direction is required to include material published in the international media,” the Bench said..The petition filed by Jadhav stated that in order to preserve the work of the eminent jurist, which would otherwise be stored in a precarious condition, his writings, speeches and letters exchanged with him ought to form part of the literature which can be accessed by all members of the public.In this backdrop, the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Source Material Publication Committee had been constituted with Minister of Education as the President and 22 other members including officials of the government, eminent scholars and active members of Ambedkarite School of Thought.The plea stated that there were several published as well as unpublished articles with the Principal Secretary of the Department of Higher and Technical Education, but till date, only 21 volumes have been published by the State..Emphasizing that the government was not treating the present proceeding as adversarial litigation, government pleader Poornima Kantharia submitted that the State was ready to offer a positive response to all issues in the PIL.She apprised the Court that the chairperson of the Committee had died a few months back, and since then, no new chairperson had not been appointed.The High Court directed the State to ensure new appointments are made at the earliest and gave it three weeks to file a response to the plea.