Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
Suman Chatterjee & Ors vs Unknown on 16 September, 2011
Author: Ashim Kumar Roy
Bench: Ashim Kumar Roy
1
04 16.09.2011 W.P. 15172 (W) of 2011
Sd.
In the matter of : Suman Chatterjee & Ors.
....Petitioners.
Mr. Tapas Kumar Ghosh,
Mr. Tanmoy Chaudhuri.
...For the Petitioners.
Mr. Ashok Banerjee,
Mr. Achinta Kumar Banerjee.
...For K. M. C.
Mr. Sakya Sen,
Mr. Shyamal Sanya.
...For the State.
This petition has been filed by the petitioners, who
claimed to be the residents of Shyampukur and desire to
hold Durgotsab having formed an Association, viz. 'Oisani
Kantapur Sarbojanin Durgotsab' for seeking a Writ of
Mandamus against the respondents to command the
respondent authorities concerned to forthwith rescind, cancel withdraw and/or revoke the impugned Memo No. 16430/RPT ID-400382 dated 28th July, 2011 issued by the Joint Commissioner of Police, Headquarters, Calcutta and accord necessary permission to hold the Durga Puja at Mahatma Sisir Ghosh Udyan (Children's Park) upon payment of requisite fees. It also seeks a Writ of Prohibition against the authorities prohibiting them from withholding the necessary permission to perform the said Durga Puja and a Writ of Certiorari in so far as quashing of the impugned order is concerned and other ancillary reliefs.
2It is the case of the petitioner that Durga Puja was being held by one Tarak Gupta and his family members at his house which now they propose to convert into a public puja and for that in the last year they had obtained permission from the respondent Municipal Corporation. But this time when they applied to the respondent Commissioner of Police, the said permission has been rejected. It is submitted that the respondent Police Commissioner has passed an order without considering the claim of the petitioners in proper perspective and the impugned order does not give any reason for rejecting the permission and, therefore, the same deserves to be quashed and set aside.
On the other hand, the learned counsel appearing for the respondent Commissioner of Police has drawn our attention to the impugned order and stated that the impugned order has been passed in conformity with the judgment and order of this Court passed in a public interest litigation being W.P. No. 2148(W) of 2004 wherein the petitioner was represented by the Advocate Rabindra Nath Datta and the respondent by Mr. Suman Ghosh, for respondent Nos. 1 to 3 and 7 and Mr. Alok Ghosh, representing the K.M.C. In the said petition the question of holding Durga Puja, i.e. from Mahalaya to Bijoya and further up to Kalipuja was taken into consideration and the Court had issued notices to the Corporation and the Police, particularly, considering the immense inconvenience on 3 account of the noise pollution, traffic congestion as also because of the damage done to the roads for erecting pandals. In response to the said petition, the respondent Municipal Corporation as well as the police authorities came with specific guideline and pursuant to those guidelines the Commissioner of Police has rejected the permission and, therefore, the impugned order does not call for any interference as it was in compliance with the order passed by this Court while disposing of the aforesaid writ petition.
The specific guidelines which have been framed and considered by this Court while disposing of the writ petition No. 21481 (W) of 2004, the Corporation has provided eleven guidelines which are as under :
1. Permission shall not be accorded to any new puja committee.
2. Permission shall be accorded in the old/existing puja organizers/clubs for holding pujas subject to obtaining no objection from the Police Deptt. and Fire Service Deptt.
3. No application for permission shall be taken up for consideration unless the same is accompanied by clearance certificates from Police, Fire Brigade and CESC.
4. Permission shall not be granted to erect puja pandel covering more than 50% of the carriage way but in all cases 12 feet space must be kept/maintained for free access of the Fire Brigade Vehicle.
5. Necessary care shall be taken to repair the 4 roads and footpath as expeditiously as possible in cases where digging operation is required for erection of pandals and for that reason the KMC shall entitle to collect the necessary charges from the puja committees with the grant of permission.
6. Banners/hoardings cannot be allowed to erect within 50 feet of road crossing and the height should be made in such a way that the sight of moving vehicle is not obstructed.
7. Stalls cannot be allaowed to be erected on footpath/carriageway without the clearance from the Police. Similarly permission for displaying banners cannot be given without clearance from Police and Advertise Deptt. of the KMC and payment of necessary fees/charges.
8. No trimming of trees be permitted for any purpose whatsoever without specific permission of KMC.
9. Normally permission is not granted to erect any stall, which may create damage of the properties landscaping etc. as created. Permission can, however, be given to other area of the park limiting 25% of the total area to keep the balance area for the crowd circulation only on approval of layout plans by the respective Borough Executive Engineers.
10. The pandal to be erected for holding puja shall have to be dismantled totally and removed with all kind of wastes from the site within maximum period of ten days after Dashami.
11. The Puja Committees/Organisers may obtain permission to hold puja subject to agreeing to follow the terms and conditions and violation thereof if notice will be viewed seriously while considering the grant of permission for the subsequent year."5
The Police authorities have come up with further 13 guidelines which are as under :-
" 1. Puja Committee must have clearance from Kolkata Municipal Corporation, CESC/W.B.S.E.B, Fire Services Department and police.
2. The puja applications should contain a sketch map/site map showing the location of the pandal, crowd circulation plan, ingress and egress mutes and a no objection certificate from the land owner.
3. The Puja Pandal should have open space of 50 feet on at least two sides.
4. The Puja Pandal should not block ingress and egress of any other buildings/premises.
5. There should be channelisers for crowd control/movement at every Puja Pandal.
6. No Puja Pandfal should be allowed within a reasonable distance of a major crossing so that smooth traffic movement is possible.
7. Previous violations by Puja organizers should be considered while granting permission.
8. Puja Pandals should not cover more than 50% of carriageway. Minimum of 12 feet road space to be kept clear for traffic movement.
9. No stalls/vendors should be allowed without Police clearance.
10. Puja organizers should desist from digging or damaging trees, parks, roads, footpaths, pedes barriers or median dividers. In case, this happens, should carry out immediate repairs. K.M.C. may ask Organizers to make a security deposit for this.
11. Within 10 days of Dashami, the roads to be restored to motorable condition.6
12. Dates of immersion should be strictly adhered to. The height of the idol on vehicle should not exceed 6.60 mts.
13. Rules regarding noise pollution framed by the Pollution Control Board should be strictly adhered."
This Court after considering the guidelines disposed of the petition by directing as under :
" Now if there are some guidelines which are common two models given before us. We, therefore, direct that the guidelines shall be strictly adhered to by the Corporation Authorities as well as Police Authorities before giving permission for erecting Puja Pandal. We also make it clear that even after the pandal is erected, strict vigil shall be kept on account of the loud speakers unavoiding blaring noise which created in the ungodly hours during the night disturbing tranquility. The Corporation Counsel Mr. Ghosh and the learned Counsel Mr. Suman Ghosh appearing for the respondent Nos. 1 to 3 & 7 assures us that all those guidelines will be strictly adhered to."
In so far as the aforesaid decision of this Court is concerned has not been challenged by any person, associations or organization and govern the field.
It is the contention of the learned counsel for the petitioner that the Hon'ble Chief Minister of the State held a public meeting with all the Sarbojonin Durga Utsav Mondal were addressed and assured the people that all formalities for seeking permission to hold Durga Puja will be dealt with under a single window. In support of the said contention a press note is annexed. It is pointed out from the press note 7 that there was an inter-action with around 2500 Puja Organisers at Netaji Indoor Stadium and the Chief Minister reduced the CESC fees for puja organizers. This fact is also highlighted in the petition.
For the purpose of disposing of this petition we need not refer to right of the petitioner to hold Durga Puja in public. What we find from the impugned order is that the Commissioner of Police has not given any reason while rejecting the application filed by the petitioners for seeking permission to hold new Durga Puja at Mahatma Sisir Ghosh Udyan (Children's Park). The order is signed by the Joint Commissioner of Police Headquarters, Kolkata which is in the form of a communication to one Sri Soumen Chatterjee which reads as under"-
" Dear Sir, With reference to your petition dated 07.07.2011 on the above subject, this is to inform you that your prayer cannot be acceded to in terms of the Hon'ble High Court Order vide Writ Petition No. 21481(W) of 2004."
In our opinion the Commissioner of Police ought to have specified the reason or the terms out of the Hon'ble High Court's order on the basis of which the permission is denied as we find from the order passed in the said petition, on 22. 07.2005, the police authorities had provided for 13 guidelines and it was therefore incumbent upon the Commissioner of Police to specify which of the guidelines is not complied with by the petitioner for which the police 8 authorities would not grant them permission or no objection as the case may be, and, therefore, we quash and set aside the impugned order and direct the Commissioner of Police to hear the petitioners in the matter and pass fresh order on the application. While passing the order, the Police Commissioner would also take into consideration the safety and security of people at large in anticipation of terrorist threat to the State and its institution and pass a speaking order.
Parties are directed to appear before the Joint Commissioner of Police on 19th September at 11-00 hrs. The writ petition stands disposed of accordingly.
Photostat plain copy of this order duly countersigned by the Assistant Registrar (Court) be given to the learned counsel for the parties on usual undertaking.
(J.N.PATEL,CHIEF JUSTICE) (ASHIM KUMAR ROY, J.) 9