Kolkata: The scheduled public meeting of the former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at Sreerampore in Hooghly district on Friday, which was given condition approval by a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday, was stayed by a division bench of the same court.
Earlier in the day, the single-judge bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharya gave conditional approval for the public meeting at Sreerampore with Mamata Banerjee as the principal speaker there, though refusing permission also for a public rally after the meeting.
However, immediately after the single-judge bench passed that order, the state government approached a division bench led by the new Calcutta High Court Chief Justice, Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge and Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty seeking clarification on a particular portion of the single-judge bench order.
In its order, the single-judge bench directed that the police should ensure that no untoward situation would arise over the public meeting.
However, in its plea to the division bench, the state government counsel said that while the state had no objection to the permission for the meeting, it had questions about the ground on which permission had been given for the meeting, considering that the ground was a private property.
In that case, the state government counsel noted that if the owner of the property would refuse to give permission to use that ground, the police had no role to play in that.
“That ground is used for religious purposes. Now the police cannot force the owner to allow a political force to hold a political meeting there. The police should be exempted from the issue of personal property. Else, the programme should be held at some other place,” the state government counsel said.
The owner of the ground, too, had objected to organising the political programme of Mamata Banerjee’s rally there.
The contention of the owner is that a ground which is used for religious purposes should not be used for political programmes.
On hearing the arguments of the state government and the owner of the ground, the division bench stayed the court order and instead said that the matter will be heard again on Friday at 12 noon.
Chief Justice Ghuge said that before holding political programs, there was a need to think about the common people and hence hold programmes in places where the common people would not face problems.
“Please find an alternative place,” he added.
(IANS)
