'Nobody Has A Fundamental Right To A Public Holiday': Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court has held that declaring a public holiday is a matter of governmental policy, and there is nobody can claim a fundamental right to public holidays. A Divison Bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Madhav Jamdar observed,

"There is no legally enforceable right that can be said to have been infringed. Nobody has a fundamental right to a public holiday."

Rejecting a petition seeking to declare August 2 as a public holiday as it marks liberation or independence day of Dadar & Nagar Haveli, the Court noted that,

"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."

Filed through Advocate Bhavesh Parmar, the petition argued that August 2, 1954, was when the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli gained liberation or independence from Portuguese rule and became part of the territory of India. From 1954 to 2020, August 2 was permitted as a public holiday marking the day. However, the same was discontinued on July 29, 2021.

The petition compared August 15 being declared a public holiday marking national independence and argued why a similar independence day of Dadra & Nagar Haveli could not be declared as a public holiday.

It also made references to a 2019 order of the Division Bench of the Bombay High Court that also pertained to the UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, where it was ordered that Good Friday be declared as a gazetted holiday in the Union Territories of Diu, Daman, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli. However, the Bombay High Court refused to make this order applies to the present set of facts, as both stand on different footings from one another. It opined that the order referred to was passed in a PIL concerning the failure to the gazette, i.e., make compulsory a public holiday rather than keep it optional.

Case Title: Kishnabhai Nathubhai Ghutia & Anr. v. The Hon'ble Administrator Union Territory & Ors.

Citation : 2022 LiveLaw (Bom) 2

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