Tripura High Court
Mr. B. Deb vs Mr. D. Bhattacharjee on 20 September, 2021
Author: Arindam Lodh
Bench: Arindam Lodh
Page 1 of 2
HIGH COURT OF TRIPURA
A_G_A_R_T_A_L_A
WP(C) No. 676 of 2021
For Petitioner(s) : Mr. B. Deb, Sr. Advocate.
Mr. S. Lodh, Advocate.
For Respondent(s) : Mr. D. Bhattacharjee, G.A.
Mr. P. Saha, Advocate.
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARINDAM LODH O_R_D_E_R 20/09/2021 Heard Mr. B. Deb, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner No.1 and Mr. S. Lodh, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner No.2. Also heard Mr. D. Bhattacharjee, learned G.A. assisted by Mr. P. Saha, learned counsel appearing for the respondents-State.
The petitioner No.1 herein, is All India Trinamool Congress, a political party registered under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the petitioner No.2, Sri Subal Bhowmik, is the authorized person to file the instant writ petition.
In a nutshell, it is the plea of the petitioners that they had sought for permission by communication dated 11.09.2021 for organizing a rally on 15th September, 2021 [Annexure-1 to the writ petition], but, the Sub- Divisional Police Officer (Sadar) West Tripura, Agartala, had informed the petitioner No.2 that it would not be possible to grant permission to conduct the rally on 15.09.2021, since there was another rally by another political party which was scheduled to be held on the same date and time. Thereafter, by another communication dated 13.09.2021, the petitioners had requested the SDPO (Sadar), Agartala, the respondent No.5 herein, to permit them to organize the rally on 16th September, 2021. In response to the said communication, the respondent No.5 by a communication dated 13.09.2021 regretted the said request of the petitioners on the ground that on the next day i.e. 17.09.2021, God Biswakarma would be worshipped and for that reason, they would be engaged in maintaining law and order in and around the city of Page 2 of 2 Agartala. On that pretext, the respondents rejected the prayer of the petitioners for organizing rally on 16.09.2021. The petitioners again on 14.09.2021 [Annexure-5 to the writ petition] had informed the respondents that they would organize the proposed rally on 22nd September, 2021 at 2.00 pm and requested the respondents to grant permission. But till today, the petitioners have not received any response on the part of the respondents.
Being aggrieved, the petitioners have approached this Court by way of presenting the instant writ petition, asking the Court to invoke its extraordinary jurisdiction under Article-226 of the Constitution of India.
Mr. Deb, learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner No.1 has submitted that organizing a rally is a right enshrined under Article- 19 of the Constitution of India.
Inviting my attention to Section-78 of the Tripura Police Act, 2007, Mr. Lodh, learned counsel submits that State's law protecting agencies, i.e. the respondents are under obligation to grant permission to any political party to organize rally imposing any conditions upon it. Mr. Lodh, learned counsel smells a rat in not granting the permission to organize the rally by the petitioners.
Mr. Bhattacharjee, learned G.A. appearing for the State- respondents has sought for a short accommodation to obtain instructions from the respondents about the reliefs claimed for by the petitioners in the present writ petition.
In view of above, let the matter be listed on 21.09.2021.
JUDGE A.Ghosh