Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
The Block Development Officer & Anr vs Surajit Pramanik & Ors on 31 August, 2023
Author: Arijit Banerjee
Bench: Arijit Banerjee
31.08.2023
Item No.01
Court No.6.
S. De
M.A.T. 1654 of 2023
With
I.A. No. CAN/1/2023
The Block Development Officer & Anr.
Vs.
Surajit Pramanik & Ors.
Mr. Amal Sen,
Mr. Santanu Kr. Mitra,
Mr. Arka Kr. Nag,
Mr. Amartya Pal,
...for the appellants.
Mr. Sabyasachi Chatterjee,
Mr. Subhrajit Saha,
Mr. Sandipan Das,
Mr. Omar Faruk Gazi,
Mr. Indranil Munshi,
Mr. Kiron Sk.,
Mr. Akashdeep Mukherjee,
...for the respondent nos. 1 and 2.
Ms. Sonal Sinha, Mr. Tarun Kr. Chatterjee, Mr. Sujit Gupta, Mr. Sayan Datta, Mr. Soumen Chatterjee, ...for the State Election Commission. Mr. Sirsanya Bandopadhyay, Mr. Ritesh Kr. Gangully, ...for the proforma respondent.
This appeal has been preferred by the Block Development Officer, Bally, Jagacha Development Block, against an order dated August 3, 2023, whereby a learned Single Judge of this Court, on a writ petition filed by the respondent nos. 1 and 2 herein being WPA 15705 of 2023, directed the Commissioner, Howrah Police Commissionerate to inquire into the allegations of the writ petitioners 2 regarding tampering with nomination papers by the appellants herein under the supervision of Justice Debi Prasad Dey (retired), a former Judge of this Court.
We have heard Mr. Sen, learned advocate for the appellants. We have also heard Mr. Chatterjee, learned advocate for the respondents/writ petitioners. Hearing cannot be concluded today because of the business of the Court. We request Mr. Chatterjee to address us on two points of law tomorrow when this matter will be listed again. Firstly, is the writ petition filed by his clients maintainable in view of the constitutional bar in Article 243-O(2) of the Constitution read with the relevant provisions of the West Bengal Panchayat Elections Act, 2003 and the Rules framed thereunder and the pronouncements of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in this regard? Secondly, even assuming that the writ petition is maintainable, was it proper for the learned Judge to direct Police enquiry under the chairmanship of a retired Judge of this Court on the basis of allegations made in the writ petition against the present appellants, without affording an opportunity to the present appellants to respond to such allegations on affidavit?
List the matter tomorrow (September 1, 2023) marked 3:00 P.M. 3 Since we are in the course of hearing out the appeal itself by consent of the parties, let the order under appeal not be given effect to till tomorrow (September 1, 2023).
(Arijit Banerjee, J.) (Apurba Sinha Ray, J.)