By the Court.—The sesquicentennial celebrations of the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad were inaugurated on 13 March 2016. The new building of the High Court at Lucknow was inaugurated on 19 March 2016. A programme was organized at Lucknow to mark the sesquicentennial celebrations, on 14 April 2016. The programme at Lucknow received the wholehearted cooperation of the members of the Bar and Oudh Bar Association. The programme was organized after taking into confidence the learned President, General Secretary and the members of the Managing Committee of Oudh Bar Association. It has received uniformly their unstinted support and cooperation. Indeed, both the Bench and the Bar are the two pillars upon which the administration of justice stands.

2. In this background, soon after the inauguration of the sesquicentennial celebrations of the High Court at Allahabad on 13 March 2016, a writ petition, Misc. Bench No. 4736 of 2016, was filed by Shri Asok Pande, a practising Advocate (who is also the petitioner before the Court representing an organization called the Hindu Personal Law Board). The petition was presented as a public interest litigation for seeking a direction to the Union of India and the Allahabad High Court not to hold the sesquicentennial celebrations primarily on the ground that the completion of 150 years was founded on an erroneous assumption and even otherwise, amounted to celebrating “the subservient legacy of the British Rule” as the petitioner described it in those proceedings.

3. A Division Bench of this Court considered the writ petition and by a judgment dated 10 March 2016 came to the conclusion that it was lacking in substance. In the concluding observations, the Division Bench exhorted earnestly all members of the legal fraternity to make the forthcoming event a memorable success:

“The petition having failed to stand the scrutiny of law in the extraordinary jurisdiction of Article 226 of the Constitution of India, is hereby rejected with an earnest request to all members of the legal fraternity, particularly those who have nurtured the High Court with their toil and blood including the petitioner, to make the forthcoming events of celebrations a memorable success notwithstanding their diverse opinions.”

4. Having failed in his endeavour to restrain the observance of the event at Allahabad, the petitioner filed the present proceedings in respect of the cultural programme which was held at the new campus of the High Court building on 14 April 2016. The reliefs which the petitioner seeks are in the following terms:

“(a) Issue a writ of Mandamus thereby directing the Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court to order an enquiry that under what circumstances and under what conspiracy the High Court function started with Sufi songs of Allah-hu, Allah-hu and in the falahar room, non-veg items were kept and to take action accordingly

(b) Issue a writ of Mandamus commanding the respondents to ban the cooking and serving of veg and non-veg items for dinner together in the same venue and by the same caterers in all public functions and for public dinner/lunch at public expenses

(c) Issue a writ of Mandamus commanding the respondents to evolve a policy not to permit praising of religious symbols and shrines of any particular religion in the name of Sufi gayan.”

5. During the course of the hearing of the petition, an intervention application has been filed by a member of the Bar, Shri Saurabh Shankar Srivastava. In the interests of justice, we permit the learned member of the Bar to intervene in these proceedings.

6. At the outset, it must be noted that the cultural programme which was held on 14 April 2016, comprised of events drawn from a cross section representing the diversity of the ethos and culture of Indian society. The cultural programme included a Sufi recital by Shri Manak Ali, a singer of repute besides a number of performances by folk artistes drawn from various genres. The petitioner, as the peti