NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has refused to interfere with a Bombay HC order directing removal of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj statue from land owned by Mormugao Port Authority.A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Sheel Nagu was hearing a petition against HC order. As it was not inclined to entertain the matter, the petitioner withdrew the plea.“Dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to file an appropriate application before HC and seek variance of the impugned order,” the bench said.HC had pulled up the port authorities and the Goa administration for being a “bystander” and allowing the statue to be installed illegally.“…Only the state, through its agencies, can adequately address law and order issues. In the present case, we see a clear invasion of a major port’s property and the state has acted as a mere bystander, tacitly colluding with the perpetrators,” HC said in its April 7 order.
