The Calcutta High Court has allowed the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to set up its traditional book stall on Jessore Road in Bongaon, within 100 metres of a Durga Puja pandal, while directing the police to maintain law and order and provide adequate security.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya also asked the district police chief to submit a report on the situation. The order came after the court questioned why permission had been denied to the CPM when other organisations had been allowed to establish stalls in the same area.
The court noted that the CPM had been setting up its book stall at the location for the past 63 years. The party sought permission to place the stall in front of its own office, according to submissions made during the hearing.
Justice Bhattacharyya questioned what difficulty the proposed stall would create if a major Durga Puja celebration was being held nearby. He also sought details of the other organisations that had been permitted to set up stalls in the area.
“The fact that others have been permitted to set up stalls while the applicants have not is not justified. When others are setting up stalls to sell various items, the applicants are not being allowed to sell books,” the judge observed, according to the report.
The case concerned the management of a temporary public-space installation during the festival period, as well as the party’s claim that its constitutional rights were affected by the denial of permission. Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, appearing for the petitioners, argued that the matter was not a land dispute and that the applicants were seeking adequate security for the stall.
The state’s Advocate General opposed the plea, arguing that temporary structures could not be permitted without the required authorisation. The state also submitted that the police were not obliged to provide protection for an unauthorised construction.
In response, the judge remarked that if rules were applied strictly against unauthorised structures, all such constructions would have to be removed. The observation came during the court’s consideration of how permission rules were being applied to different organisations operating in the area.
The court ultimately permitted the CPM to install the book stall within 100 metres of the Puja pandal. It directed the police to ensure law and order and adequate deployment, and asked the district police chief to submit a report on the situation. The order also recorded the court’s view that accommodating different political ideologies was beneficial for democracy and that the administration should take note of that principle.
