The matter will be heard again in High Court on Thursday.
The Gujarat government on Wednesday said Mahatma Gandhi belongs to all and questioned in the High Court the standing of his great-grandson Tushar Gandhi who has challenged the Sabarmati Ashram redevelopment project.
Mahatma Gandhi is the "Father of the Nation" of 140 crore people, Advocate General Kamal Trivedi told the division bench of Chief Justice Aravind Kumar and Justice Ashutosh Shastri, in reply to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by activist Tushar Gandhi.
The matter will be heard again on Thursday.
Tushar Gandhi has challenged the proposed Sabarmati Ashram redevelopment project -- the Gandhi Ashram Memorial and Precinct Development Project -- and sought the high court's direction to allow the redevelopment work under the aegis of 'National Gandhi Smarak Nidhi' (NGSN).
"We are talking about that Father of the Nation. He is the father of 140 crore people of this country. I have reverence for the petitioner who says he is (Mahatma Gandhi's) great-grandson. Yes, but Mahatmaji is for everyone. He (petitioner) does not have the exclusive right," Mr Trivedi said.
He said the redevelopment project is serving a "public purpose keeping in mind the reverence the country is having for Mahatma Gandhi." Mr Trivedi said the state government has taken the policy decision to fund the project and the Centre has approved the release of Rs 1,246 crore fund.
"What should be the fulcrum of judicial review where the Central government has taken a policy decision of granting Rs 1,246 crore for this particular project? Should this particular decision be challenged, if I may say so?" he asked.
"The petition contains paradoxical averments. The petition is not consistent in its line of reasoning. Therefore, once again...Of course, with humility at my command, I would also like to challenge the locus of the petitioner," he said.
The advocate general said the petitioner wants the development to be undertaken under the aegis of the Trusts -- National Gandhi Smarak Nidhi and Harijan Sevak Sangh -- which are not stakeholders.
Responding to the petitioner's concern that the proposed redevelopment will "change the physical structure of the ashram and corrupt its pristine simplicity and frugality that embodies the ideology of Gandhiji, Mr Trivedi said noted architect Bimal Patel is working on the project.
The respondents- Sabarmati Ashram Preservation and Memorial Trust (SAPMT) and the Khadi Gramodyog Prayog Samiti- have also opposed the PIL.
SAPMT takes care of the Ashram that remained Gandhi's home from 1917 until 1930 and served as one of the main centres of the Indian freedom struggle.
The PIL has challenged the proposed project, seeking the HC's direction to allow the redevelopment work to be spearheaded by six trusts under the aegis of NGSN rather than the state and Central governments.
A new trust -- Mahatma Gandhi Sabarmati Ashram Memorial Trust -- has been set up to restore, unify and expand the Ashram.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)