Bengal govt again faces Calcutta HC’s ire over denial of permission for oppn rally

Kolkata: Within a gap of just seven days, the West Bengal government has once again faced the ire of the Calcutta High Court on the same issue of denying permission to the opposition BJP to conduct its public political programme.

The court’s single-judge bench of Justice Hay Sengupta on Friday criticised the state police for not giving any kind of reaction to BJP’s application to conduct a public meeting at Khejuri in East Midnapore district on Saturday.

Justice Sengupta also took exception to the administrative reluctance in the matter despite the BJP submitting the application for permission well in advance.

On this matter, the judge also raised two important questions.

The first is when the administration imposes the condition of submitting the application 15 days in advance. The second question is why the opposition will have to move to the court every time for such permission.

Permitting the BJP to organise the event, Justice Sengupta observed that the meeting has to be conducted in a peaceful manner and no provocative statement should be made.

On November 24, the state government and Kolkata Police attracted the ire of the division bench of the court’s Chief Justice T.S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya for denying the permission to the BJP to conduct its mega rally on Wednesday at the exactl same spot where the Trinamool Congress stages its annual Martyrs’ Day rally in July.