The Kerala High Court on May 28, Friday, declined to stay the operation of the draft Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation 2021 (LDAR). The court allowed the Lakshadweep Administration two weeks to respond to a public interest litigation assailing the regulation, according to a Livelaw report. The court order was on a petition moved by Congress politician KP Noushad Ali which challenged the LDAR and the Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Act (PASA) introduced on the island of Lakshadweep.A Division Bench of Justices K Vinod Chandran and MR Anitha, hearing the petition, allowed two weeks time to the respondents. Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj sought time to respond on behalf of the Union Territory Administration and other respondents. Anoop Nair, counsel for the petitioner prayed that the Administration not be allowed to implement anything in the meantime (in the two weeks).
To this Justice Vinod Chandran responded "nothing doing (it's a ) policy matter and why unnecessarily (inaudible),". Lakshadweep has been in the centre of news for the past several days for the contentious proposed regulations by Lakshadweep Administrator Praful Khoda Patel. Criticism has been mounting against the proposed regulations. Praful Patel, after taking charge, came out with drafts of several reforms such as the Lakshadweep Animal Preservation Regulation, Lakshadweep Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Regulation, Lakshadweep Development Authority Regulation and amendment to the Lakshadweep Panchayat Staff Rules, all which have been slammed for being contentious, harmful for the people and the environmental balance of the island.
One of the contentious reforms is the draft Lakshadweep Prevention of Anti-Social Activities Regulation 2021 which is widely being questioned for the island is a place which is famous for some of the lowest crime rates in the country.
Also people's representatives in the island said that the Administrator did not hold any public consultations before the reforms were brought by. They are afraid that the Administrative's motive was to destroy traditional life and cultural diversity of the people of Lakshadweep. Lakshadweep Collector Asker Ali, meanwhile, told media in Kochi on May 27 that the campaign (that clamour to save Lakshadweep) is a misleading one.