Calcutta HC allows DA protest rally in front of Abhishek Banerjee’s office

Kolkata : Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Jay Sengupta on Tuesday dismissed the Kolkata Police’s denial for permission to a protest rally in front of the office of Trinamool Congress’s national general secretary and party Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee on Camac Street in central Kolkata.

The rally is to be held by the government employees on Wednesday against the non-payment of enhanced dearness allowance to the West Bengal government employees. After being denied the permission, the organizers of the rally, who are the state government employees in Group-D category, approached Justice Sengupta’s bench for the permission.

On Tuesday while hearing on the matter, the counsels for the petitioner Kaustav Bagchi and Priti Kar, argued that while denying the permission for marching of the rally through Camac Street, the police have sited the reason of inconvenience for the school children commuting through that busy stretch of road in central Kolkata.

“Originally the rally was planned in the Kalighat area. But my clients changed the route following an appeal from the city police on this count. Then my clients planned the rally through the alternate route of Camac Street. Now the police are even opposing that using the problem of school children as an excuse. Is that objection of the administration because the office of a particular person is located on that stretch of road? My clients will conduct the rally peacefully,” Bagchi argued.

Finally, Justice Sengupta dismissed the denial of permission from the administration and ruled that the rally can be conducted through Camac Street only. While passing the order, Justice Sengupta also observed that since there is no school on that stretch of road, the reason for inconvenience for school children, as cited by the administration, was not tenable.

“So the rally can be held through that road without causing inconvenience for the school children. If necessary the rally can pass through a special channel through that road. The rally should move on without taking any halt on that road,” Justice Sengupta ordered.