PAAS postpones Ekta Yatra after High Court directive

Rajkot: The Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti's (PAAS) 21-day Ekta Yatra, which was scheduled to kick off on January 26, has been postponed following a Gujarat high court directive to the organization's leaders to apply for permission afresh before the local administration.
PAAS had decided to kick off the yatra from Sidsar town in Jamnagar's Jamjodhpur taluka.Sidsar is the pilgrimage place for Kadva Patels. After traversing 21 days, the yatra was scheduled to end at Kagvad, the pilgrimage place of Leuva Patels in Rajkot district.
PAAS's Saurashtra zone convener Lalit Vasoya had applied for permission in 11 districts but he did not receive any response from local authorities. Jamnagar district administration had clamped prohibitory orders under Section 144 ahead of the event, forcing Vasoya to move the high court.
"At the hearing on Monday, the HC asked us to apply for permission again after the government contended that there were technical issues in our applications. There was no mention of villages from where the yatra would pass, how many people would participate, among others," Vasoya claimed.
While asking the petitioner to approach the authorities again for permission, Justice J B Pardiwala inquired about the agenda with which PAAS wants to take out the rally besides female feticide and de-addiction because the name of the organization reminds of Patidar's quota stir.
The judge also questioned the government pleader whether the state government has taken any decision over this long-pending issue. To this, public prosecutor Mitesh Amin replied that as far as Patidars are concerned, he does not think that they are entitled for quota benefits.
Vasoya said that PAAS conveners would soon meet in this regard and then apply for permission within two-three days. "We will apply for yatra permission with all details to respective district administrations and announce the new date soon," he added.