SC sets aside Gujarat HC’s summary dismissal of Tushar Gandhi’s challenge to Sabarmati Ashram redevelopment project, remands it for fresh hearing

THE Supreme Court, on Friday, set aside the Gujarat High Court's order from November last year by which it had summarily dismissed the petition filed by Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, challenging the Gujarat state government's resolution on the Sabarmati Ashram Redevelopment Project. It remanded the matter to the high court to consider the petition afresh, and decide the same on merits after calling an affidavit from the state government and completion of pleadings.

A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant passed the order to this effect after hearing senior advocate Indira Jaising and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for the petitioner and the state of Gujarat respectively. It clarified that it was not commenting on the merits of the case.

The bench was of the view that the high court ought not to have dismissed the petition summarily.

Jaising urged the Court to ask the high court to decide the matter expeditiously, to which Mehta said, he would undertake to request the high court to decide the matter urgently. Jaising added that not only the state government, but also all the trusties, who have been managing the affairs of Aashram should be given notice, and be heard by the high court.

"The trusts have to be heard since this is a critical issue as of today. It's the responsibility of the Trust to take care of the Gandhi ashram. I repeat I am not belligerent, at all. We don't want to hold up the project," Jaising said.

Mehta said these issues can always be mentioned before the high court. He said the Trusts are stakeholders and part of the Executive Council formed under the Government Resolution. He added that the petition was based on unverified apprehensions. The petitioner and the respondents are not at loggerheads over the view that the legacy of Mahatma Gandhi should be retained, protected and preserved with sanctity, he added.

On November 25, 2021, a division bench of the Gujarat High Court closed the public interest litigation filed by Gandhi against the project, taking on record the submission made by the Advocate General [AG] that the existing Gandhi Ashram on Sabarmati Riverfront, which is on an area of one acre, would not be disturbed. The AG told the High Court that it would be maintained and all efforts would be made for its improvement if decided by its Governing Council. The High Court also opined that since the Governing Council and the Executive Council formed under the Government Resolution passed on March 5, 2021, comprise several representatives, including the representative of Sabarmati Ashram Preservation Memorial Trust, the apprehension expressed by Gandhi that the decisions would be taken by the Governing Council or Executive Council unilaterally to the detriment to the Ashram stood allayed.

In his appeal at the Supreme Court, Gandhi contended that the government's project will change the physical structure of Sabarmati Ashram, and corrupt its pristine simplicity and frugality that embodies the ideology of Gandhiji, and make it diametrically opposite to these important Gandhian principles that the Ashram embodies today. The appeal added that the high court limited the understanding of the matter and his concerns to the redevelopment of the Gandhi Ashram Memorial proposed by the Gujarat government. He submitted that the significance of the land is not limited to the one-acre Ashram itself, but covers the entire property on the banks of the Sabarmati, which is more than 100 acres.

Also read: Why I have appealed to the Supreme Court to save Sabarmati Ashram

"The land serves as a source of inspiration and stands as a monument to Gandhiji's life mission. Not only this, but the entire land also houses the descendants of the families which lived in Sabarmati Ashram at the same time as Gandhiji. The redevelopment project has already uprooted these families, by making them vacate their houses. This is in contravention of the written instructions through which the Sabarmati Ashram and its adjoining land were bequeathed to the Harijan Sevak Sangh", the appeal stated.

Besides, Gandhi argued that it is for the first time that any redevelopment regarding a Gandhi Monument is sought to be undertaken by the government, and the same is contrary to the conscious decision taken by the erstwhile Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, a national organisation which was formed by founders of the nation and eminent contemporaries and associates of Mahatma Gandhi. It became an umbrella organisation managing several Gandhian monuments, including the National Gandhi Museum in Delhi, the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad and the Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya in Mumbai. Now its state bodies are associated with these monuments and memorials.

The appeal argued that since the establishment of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, all decisions concerning the preservation, maintenance and adding of facilities in Ashram precincts have been carried out by the respective trusts that are presently managing the Ashram premises. It added that as per the founding constitution of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi, Gandhian institutions and memorials have always been insulated from government or political influence or control. The government's role has been always confined to be that of a funding agency, and never as the initiator or executor of any project associated with these institutions, monuments and memorials.

Click here to read the full order.