LAWS(SC)-1996-11-1

TUSHAR ARUN GANDHI Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

Decided On November 26, 1996
TUSHAR ARUN GANDHI Appellant
V/S
STATE OF ORISSA Respondents

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Shri Tushar Arun Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi addressed a letter in the form of an appeal to one of us (the chief justice of India) staling that he had come to know from Press reports about the existence of an urn containing the ashes of his late great grand father Shri M. K. Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi lying in a locker in the State Bank of India, Cuttack. On learning about the same he wrote letters to the Chief Minister and the governor of orissa as well as the Chairman of the State Bank of India, Cuttack requesting them to enquire into the matter and, if the Press reports were correct to use their good offices to help him secure the urn from the locker to enable him to complete the last rites as per the Hindu religious practice. Unfortunately he did not receive any reply to his letters from the Chief Minister or the Governor of orissa but the Chairman of the State Bank of India called him and assured him that he would ascertain the facts and inform him of the outcome of his enquiry, Sometime thereafter the Chairman verbally informed him about the existence of a box stated to contain the 'asthis' of Mahatma Gandhi kept in safe deposit in the year 1950 by the then secretary to the Chief Minister of orissa. This verbal information was followed by a letter from one Shri Mehrotra wherein he gave details of how and when the urn was deposited with the Bank. In his letter of 8/3/1996 Shri Mehrotra states as follows:

(2.) After receipt of this letter the petitioner once again addressed a letter to Shri J. B. Patnaik, the then Chief Minister of orissa, Shri G. Ramanujarn, a the then governor of orissa and the Chief secretary of the State and requested them to help him in securing the box to enable him to complete the last rites as per the Hindu religious practice. He did not receive any response to his letters and so he visited Bhubaneswar on 21/3/1996 and met the Chief Minister who says he responded by saying that it was a big hoax. On further enquiry as to why he considered it a hoax he was told that according to the State Bank of India the secretary of the then orissa Chief Minister Shri Naba Krushna Choudhury had kept the box in a safe deposit in 1950 when there was in fact no such post of secretary to Chief Minister in existence. He was told that there was only a Private secretary to the Chief Minister in those days and the government also did not have any record of the deposit of the said box with the State Bank of India. The Chief Minister is even reported to have remarked that the State Bank of India was up to some mischief and so he would order a CBI enquiry into the entire matter.

(3.) The petitioner then stated that he was taken aback by what the Chief Minister informed him and was also surprised that a responsible officer of the State Bank of India was prepared to stick his neck out on such a sensitive issue and felt hurt that he did not realise the seriousness of the matter. The Chief Minister is reported to have further stated that he was proposing to order a CBI enquiry so that the ashes could be chemically tested to ascertain if they really belonged to Mahatma Gandhi. He was informed that he would be duly informed at the conclusion of the investigation by the CBI. In fact by the letter dated 23/3/1996 the Commissioner-cum-Secretary to the State government wrote to the General Manager (Operations) , State Bank of India, Bhubaneswar that the State government did not accept that the box contained the ashes of Mahatma Gandhi or that the State government had, through its official, placed it with the Bank for safe custody. He also stated that it was open to the State Bank of India to dispose of the said box in any manner it considered appropriate.