The Bombay high court recently rejected a petition filed by a resident of Dadra and Nagar Haveli to declare August 2 as a public holiday in the union territory, stating that there were too many public holidays in the country and that it was time to reduce them. The union territory was liberated from Portuguese rule on this day, which was being observed until 2020. While rejecting the plea, the bench said that there was ‘no legally enforceable fundamental right to a public holiday and whether or not to declare a particular day as a public holiday or optional holiday is a matter of government policy’. Commenting further on the number of public holidays justice Patel said, ‘As it is, we have far too many public holidays in this country. Perhaps the time has come to reduce, not increase the number of public holidays’.
While hearing the appeal of Kishnabhai Ghutia, advocates Bhavesh Parmar and Devmani Shukla informed the division bench of justice Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar that the day was observed as Liberation Day but has been cancelled from July 29, 2021. The advocates went on to say that if August 15 was declared a national holiday to commemorate the country’s independence, there was no reason why August 2 should not be declared a holiday in Dadra & Nagar Haveli.
Post Your Comments