The Bombay High Court said on Wednesday that the Maharashtra government's failure to publish Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's writings and speeches is a sorry state of affairs.
The division bench of Justices Prasanna B. Varale and Shriram M. Modak took suo motu cognizance of an article in the Marathi newspaper Loksatta, saying that the publication of Ambedkar's work is "absolutely necessary and desirable for the present and future generations."
During the previous Devendra Fadnavis government, the Maharashtra government launched a grand scheme to print nine lakh copies of Ambedkar's entire work, titled The Writings and Speeches of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. In the meantime, according to the Loksatta report, only 33,000 copies were printed. The paper for printing the books was purchased for Rs 5.45 crore, but the vast majority of the stock sat unused in storage.
The High Court stated that these volumes are in high demand not only among researchers but also among the general public. The bench ordered the registry to file a suo motu PIL and bring it to the attention of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta, who would decide on the next steps in the case. According to the article, the Government Press may not have the modern machinery to deal with such large numbers and may be hampered in both editing and publishing the volumes by old machinery and untrained personnel.
"(Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's works) are useful to members of the legal profession as well as the general public." As a result, we believe this court should investigate the possibility of the project being halted. "We are treating it as a matter of public interest litigation due to the nature of the grievance raised in the news item," the bench said.