The High Court has suggested that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) could set up temporary bookstalls during Kali Puja if permission is not granted for the stalls during Durga Puja, according to a report by Bartaman Patrika. The matter relates to applications for bookstalls in Bongaon and Naihati in North 24 Parganas, where police permission was reportedly denied.
The CPM approached the High Court after seeking approval to operate two temporary bookstalls during Durga Puja. The applicants told the court that they had been setting up such stalls for around 50 years, making the dispute part of a longer-running public presence linked to the festival season. The stalls are described as temporary bookshops placed outside several puja pandals.
During the hearing, CPM lawyer Shamim Ahmed reportedly told the court that permission had been denied on the ground that there were directions from higher authorities. The source report does not identify the written order, notification or specific authority behind those directions. It also does not provide the police authorities’ response to the application.
The lawyer sought an urgent hearing, arguing that the case would lose practical relevance after the puja period. Justice Sougata Bhattacharya, according to the report, did not initially consider an urgent hearing necessary. Ahmed then requested that the judge leave the matter, saying the party would try another bench. The judge was subsequently reported to have said that the issue would be considered on Tuesday.
The report also says that festival committees had previously been given conditions regarding CPM bookstalls. It attributes to Chief Minister Shubhendu Adhikari an instruction that permission should not be granted if the stalls used the term “Durga Puja” and that the phrase “Sharadotsav” should be used instead. This identification requires verification because the source does not provide an official statement, government order or other documentary basis for the claim, and the designation is internally inconsistent with the office attributed in the report.
The dispute places a temporary political bookstall within the wider administrative system governing access to public areas around festival venues. During major festivals, police, local administrations, organisers and political or civic groups may all have overlapping interests in the use of streets, pavements and spaces outside pandals. The supplied report does not establish the applicable permission rules, whether the requested stalls would obstruct movement or whether similar applications by other organisations were treated differently.
For residents, the immediate issue is whether the stalls can operate during the remaining festival period and under what conditions. For the authorities, the pending questions include which body has final permission-making power, whether any restriction is based on public-order or space-management concerns, and whether the conditions were formally communicated to the applicants. The next reported step is the court’s consideration of the matter on Tuesday. The outcome and any written order would be necessary to establish the legal and administrative position.
