Kolkata: The Supreme Court has agreed to listen to an appeal on Friday challenging the Calcutta High Court’s decision allowing West Bengal government to offer grants to puja committees for Durga Puja in the state.
The Calcutta HC on Wednesday had refused to accept a public interest litigation filed against the West Bengal government’s decision to offer grants to puja committees for Durga Puja in the state. The court had put a stay on disbursal of funds worth Rs 10,000 each to 28,000 puja committees across the state.
A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and consisting of justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph, was apprised that the HC refused to interfere with the Mamata Banerjee government’s decision to grant funds to Puja committees in the state.
On September 10, Mamata Banerjee had declared that Rs 10,000 would be given to each of the 28,000 puja committees across the state–3,000 in the city and 25,000 in the districts, costing the government an amount of Rs 28 crore.
The bench also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph was told by lawyer Saurav Dutta, who had filed an appeal against the high court’s decision to allow the West Bengal government disburse funds to the tune of Rs 28 crore, claiming it was a dole to puja committees and had no public purpose.
The plea also claimed that providing funds to puja committees is a violation of the secular structure of the Constitution.
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