HC junks PIL challenging UP’s move to hold religious events

The Allahabad High Court has dismissed a PIL challenging the state government’s decision allocating Rs 1 lakh to each district to hold religious events during Navratri and Ram Navami festivals and pay honorarium to artistes.
Upholding the Yogi Adityanath government’s decision to pay honorarium to the performers at the programmes organised at temples, the Lucknow bench of high Court has held that this does not amount to indulgence of the state in propagation of any religion or religious denomination.
In fact it is a simple secular activity of the state while it indulges in publicising the developmental work undertaken by the state, the court said.
A bench of Justices D K Upadhyaya and O P Shukla dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Motilal Yadav challenging the state government’s 10 March, 2023 decision whereby it had allocated Rs 1 lakh to each district on the occasion of Ram Navami.