Kolkata: The uncertainty surrounding the Trinamool Congress’s proposed public meeting at Sreerampore in West Bengal’s Hooghly district, with former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the principal speaker, continued on Friday after a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court referred the matter back to the single-judge bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya for an early decision.
The meeting was originally scheduled for Friday. On Thursday, Justice Bhattacharyya’s bench had granted conditional permission for the event but declined to allow a rally following the meeting.
However, the programme could not go ahead as planned after the state government approached a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge and Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, seeking clarification on a particular portion of the single-judge bench’s order.
The state government argued that the police administration had little role in the matter because the owner of the ground selected by the Trinamool Congress for the event had objected to its use for a political programme.
It further contended that the private property is generally used for religious functions, leaving the administration unable to override the owner’s objections.
After hearing the matter on Friday, the Division Bench sent the case back to the single-judge bench and directed it to dispose of the matter at the earliest. The Bench observed that the final decision should be taken after hearing the landowner’s objections to the use of the venue for a political gathering.
The Division Bench requested Justice Bhattacharyya to hear the review application on September 18 and pass orders by September 25.
Since the Assembly elections, which resulted in a crushing defeat for the Trinamool Congress, Mamata Banerjee has largely confined her political activities to Kolkata. The Sreerampore event was expected to be her first major political programme in a district outside the state capital after the elections.
(IANS)
