Bombay HC dismisses plea seeking declaration of Aug 2 as public holiday in Dadra and Nagar Haveli

The Bombay High Court rejected a plea demanding that August 2 be declared a public holiday to celebrate the liberation/independence of the union territory (UT) of Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

Declaring public holidays is a matter of government policy and nobody has a fundamental right to a public holiday, said the Bombay High Court while rejecting a petition to declare August 2 as a public holiday for celebrating the liberation/independence of the Union Territory (UT) of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

The bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar also observed that there are too many public holidays in India, and in fact, the number of holidays should be reduced, not increased. "There is no legally enforceable right that can be said to have been infringed. Nobody has a fundamental right to a public holiday. 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," the order stated.