Calcutta High Court (Appellete Side)
In Re: Rajib Kumar Jha vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors on 30 June, 2017
Author: Nishita Mhatre
Bench: Nishita Mhatre
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30.06.17
Item No.05
Ct. No.01
Krishnendu
W.P.No. 15306 (W) of 2017
In re: An application for addition of party being C.A.N.6038 of
2017 filed on 30th June, 2017,
And
In re: Rajib Kumar Jha
Applicant
And
In re: Rama Prasad Sarkar
- Versus-
The State of West Bengal & Ors.
Mr. Indranil Roy
Mr. Arnab Mukherjee
Mr. Abhishek Chakraborty
For the Applicant in
CAN 6038 of 2017
Mr. Rama Prasad Sarkar (Petitioner) appears in-
person
Mr. Kishore Dutta, ld.A.G.
Mr. Abhratosh Majumder,ld.A.A.G.
Mr. Debasish Ghosh
Ms.Pramiti Bandopadhyay
For the State
Mr. Y.J. Dastoor
Mr. Phiroze Edulji
Mr. Rajdeep Biswas
Mr. Ranajit Roy
For the Respondent No.9
Mr. Kaushik Chanda, learned A.S.G. Mr. Lokenath Chatterjee For the Union of India The application for addition of party, being C.A.N. 6038 of 2017, is taken on board today upon consent of the appearing parties.
The application has been filed by a public-spirited citizen and a member of the Bar Council of West Bengal. He has prayed 2 for being added as a party respondent to the writ petition, being W.P. 15306 (W) of 2017. A further prayer made is that the Department of Home Affairs, Government of India, be directed to deploy at least 20 companies of Central Police Force in the Districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong forthwith.
Accordingly, Rajib Kumar Jha be added as a party respondent to the writ petition, being W.P.15306 (W) of 2017.
Amendment to be carried out in course of this day.
(Nishita Mhatre, A.C.J.) (Tapabrata Chakraborty, J.) 30.06.17 W.P. No. 15306 (W) of 2017 3 The Union of India shall be added as a party respondent in the petition. A copy of the writ petition and all other pleadings be served on the Union of India, represented by the Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, having its office at South Block, New Delhi-110 001 and also at no. 11, Strand Road, Kollkata-700 001 forthwith.
Office to carry out the amendment immediately. By our order dated 23rd June, 2017 read with the further order passed on 29th June, 2017 in connection with CPAN 1591 of 2013 in W.P. 23617 (W) of 2013 and W.P.15306 (W) of 2017, the State was directed to serve the writ petition and other related documents on the respondent nos. 6, 7 and 8.
According to the learned Advocate General, this has been done. The learned Advocate General states that service has been effected on the aforesaid respondents and an affidavit of service will be filed on the next occasion.
The learned Advocate General, appearing for the State, has placed before us a statement showing the existing strength of the police force both general and specialized of the West Bengal police, and the Central Armed Police Force deployed in the Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts. The statement indicates that there are about 3506 State Police personnel in the two districts. While in Darjeeling 9 Central Reserve Police Force (in short C.R.P.F.) companies have been deployed, there are two in Kalimpong district. Thus, there are 704 personnel from the C.R.P.F. in the aforesaid two districts. The State has assessed that it is necessary to have more police personnel from the Central Armed Police Force and, therefore, has been requisitioning Central Police personnel from 5th June, 2017. According to the 4 learned Advocate General, the situation in these two districts is extremely grave where police personnel have been injured during the course of their duty. He, therefore, submits that additional police personnel from the C.R.P.F. would be urgently required in order to quell the disturbances in the two districts.
The learned Advocate General submits that in continuation of the previous applications made by the State, the State will submit a further request to the Central Government to deploy Central Armed Police Forces.
We expect the Central Government to consider the pending applications and any fresh request made by the State as expeditiously as possible so that the situation in the two districts does not worsen.
The learned Additional Solicitor General seeks an adjournment to take instructions in the matter and to inform the Court about the assessment made by the Central Government for deployment of the Central Armed Police Force in the two districts.
Mr. Indranil Roy, appearing for the added respondent in CAN 6038 of 2017 filed in connection with W.P. No. 15306 (W) of 2017, submits that in view of the order passed on 14th December, 2016 in C.R.M. No. 5221 of 2015 and other connected matters by a Division Bench of this Court, respondent no. 7 i.e. Bimal Gurung and respondent no. 8 herein ought to have been present in Kolkata. Moreover, by the aforesaid order passed by this Court each of them was directed to submit their residential addresses where they would be residing during the trial and their respective phone numbers.
Since it is a case initiated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (in short, C.B.I.), we direct the learned Additional Solicitor General to inform the Court on the next occasion as to the consequences of the order passed by the Division Bench on 14th December, 2016.
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The learned Advocate General has placed on record in a sealed cover the assessment of the damages faced by the State and the public in accordance with our order dated 16th June, 2017.
List this matter on Tuesday, 4th July, 2017 along with CPAN 1591 of 2013 (filed in W.P.23617 (W) of 2013) and the writ petition, being W.P. 23617 (W) of 2013.
(Nishita Mhatre, A.C.J.) (Tapabrata Chakraborty, J.)