Kolkata, Oct 14 The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday observed that the opposition’s voice must not be stifled, as that is not the spirit of democracy, while hearing the CPI(M)’s plea to allow a bookstall it plans to put up on Jessore Road in Bongaon during the Durga Puja festival.
The petitioner’s lawyer claimed that a stall by the Hindu Jagran Manch has come up where the CPI(M) set up its temporary bookstall near a Durga Puja pandal at Bongaon in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal for the last 50 years.
“Don’t stifle the voice of other parties, that is not the spirit of democracy,” Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya observed.
When Advocate General Surojit Nath Mitra said that nobody is trying to do so, the court said, “It appears so.”
Justice Bhattacharyya asked the AG how another stall was allowed to be erected at the same place where the CPI(M) proposed to set up the bookstall.
He asked whether the present BJP government has streamlined the system of putting up such stalls.
“In that event there should be a uniform stand that nobody would be allowed to put up stalls without permission from the authority on a thoroughfare,” Justice Bhattacharyya said.
Stating that it is a bookshop and not a lottery shop that was proposed to be set up, the court asked why it was being obstructed in this manner.
Lawyer Shamim Ahmed, representing the CPI(M), stated before the court that they had sent an intimation to the police authorities and the SDO regarding setting up the bookstall.
He claimed that while the temporary bamboo structure stall was being erected on October 1 following the intimation, alleged members of Hindu Jagran Mancha drove them away and set up their own stall.
The CPI(M)’s lawyer claimed that the police did not take any step following a complaint.
The court said that the question which arises for consideration is that if others are permitted to raise temporary bamboo structures to run stalls, then why the petitioner will be deprived.
The court permitted the petitioner to file a supplementary affidavit bringing on record all relevant facts and documents demonstrating that others are allowed while it was not allowed to put up a stall on the road during the Durga Puja days.
Justice Bhattacharyya directed the inspector in charge of Bongaon police station to hold an inquiry and submit a report on Thursday on whether others have put up stalls on Jessore Road without permission of the PWD or other authorities.
The court will hear on Thursday again the CPI(M)’s petition seeking direction upon the authorities to set up the bookstall.
The opposition political party in the state pleaded that permission was not granted to the CPI(M) for setting up the bookstall at Bongaon by the SDO.
During the hearing, the AG stated that the temporary stall was proposed to be set up on Jessore Road and that the SDO did not grant permission since the PWD manages the thoroughfare.
The court asked whether others had put up stalls in the vicinity, to which the AG replied that they might have been.
Justice Bhattacharyya said hundreds of stalls are put up on the main thoroughfares during the Durga Puja festival days in north Kolkata.
Questioning whether those stalls received permission from the concerned authorities, the court asked the AG to show one such approval.
When the AG stated that permission is required from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for setting up stalls within its jurisdiction, the petitioner’s lawyer Shamim Ahmed stated that the civic body is only informed and no permission is taken.
Justice Bhattacharyya said that ultimately it may seem that stalls for bursting balloons with airguns would be allowed, but not bookstalls.
He said that it cannot be on the basis of pick and choose to permit or not to put up stalls.
Shamim stated that after filing the writ petition, a stall by Hindu Jagran Mancha was set up at the site, behind which a CPI(M) party office is located.
(PTI News)
