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A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) plea seeking construction of the 'Ram Ban Gaman Marg' (the forest journey of Lord Ram) as per the historical evidence connecting all places where Lord Rama took rest at night during his forest travel was dismissed by the Allahabad High Court recently.

The Bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice J. J. Munir held that the issue raised by the petitioner could not be decided in the writ petition as he himself did not know anything about it being a political person. Court also pointed out that the petitioner, an ex-member of Zila Panchayat, had not mentioned his credentials in the petition as per Rule 1(3-A), Chapter XXII of the Allahabad High Court Rules, 1952.

The petition was moved by one Rajneesh Kumar Pandey, seeking Court's direction to the State Government of Uttar Pradesh to modify the route of the proposed 'Ram Vanagaman Marg' project. The State Government has declared to develop Ram Vanagaman Marg with a cost of over Rs. 4000 crores.

Pandey had sought court's direction to the Union and State governments to construct the Ram Ban Gaman Marg as per the history and evidence of Ram Ban Gaman Marg which he had annexed to his petition.

He had also sought a direction that if the 4-lane construction is not possible everywhere on the Ram Ban Gaman Marg then the authority concerned shall construct a proper connectivity route connecting the Lord Rama's halting-place to the project path.

However, taking note of Pandey's omission of his credentials in the petition and lack of knowledge on the issue, Court held that the writ petition had been filed for some ulterior motive.

Court noted that the State must have conducted thorough research before taking the decision to execute the project and therefore concluded that no direction could be issued for modification of the route of "Ram Van Gaman Marg".

Case Title: Rajneesh Kumar Pandey v. Union of India and others