New Delhi, Friday 10 July 2009: In a major relief to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, who has sparked off a controversy with her statue unveiling spree, the Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay installation of statues of her and other prominent Dalit leaders in Noida.

“If a democratically elected government decides to do something without misappropriating public money, there is little courts can do,” the apex court said, while refusing to interfere in the on-going work for installation of the statues.

The apex court passed its order while hearing a PIL filed by advocate Ravi Kant seeking a stay on installation of statue of Mayawati and other Dalit leaders in Noida.

According to reports, the apex court ruled that installing statues or building monuments are state government’s prerogative so it would not intervene in any matter unless is substantial evidence to prove that the public money was misappropriated.

The Mayawati government has been facing a lot of flak for spending thousands of crores of rupees on installing statues and monuments related Kanshi Ram, party symbol ‘elephant’ and her own all across the state, with the Opposition terming it as a waste of public money.