Mumbai: In a setback for the BJP administrator of two union territories, the Bombay High Court directed it to declare ‘compulsory holiday’ on Good Friday, which is on April 19.
The administrator had abruptly excluded the said holiday from the list of gazetted national holidays. The administrator – Praful Patel, a former BJP lawmaker from Gujarat – had, in November 2018, decided to scrap Good Friday holiday in Daman, Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli. He justified his decision claiming, ‘the Christian community constitutes only 1 to 2 per cent of the total population in the two territories’.
The community learnt of Patel’s decision through an official notification in November 2018, when the members were preparing for the April 19 holiday, to mark a day of prayers, penance, mourning and vigil when Jesus Christ was crucified. The decision was criticised vehemently by the Christian community, which dragged the administrator Patel to the HC.
The community through Anthony Francisco Duarte, petitioned a bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Nitin Jamdar. The community urged the bench to quash the administrator’s decision, as the same is bad in law. “India is a secular country and the principle of secularism cannot be dependent upon numbers.
Instead it is dependent upon the sentiments of the citizens,” the community’s advocate Harish Jagtiani argued before the bench. The counsel appearing for the administrator, once again, justified its decision on the ground that the holiday was excluded since there can be only 17 national holidays.
“We included the liberation day in the list and thus the Good Friday holiday was transferred from Schedule 1 to Schedule 2 or Restricted holiday category,” the counsel appearing for the administrator, submitted. Having heard both the sides, CJ Nandrajog said, “The administrator must consider the significance of Easter as well as Good Friday.
It must consider the fact that people of all the communities enjoy the Easter bunnies and chocolates.” “Consider the importance of Good Friday, especially for the community and declare April 19 as a compulsory national holiday,” CJ Nandrajog ordered administrator Patel.
