Kolkata, Sep 10 A TMC meeting to be addressed by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Hooghly's Sreerampur was stayed by a division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday after its lawyer stated they were amenable to postponing it following an appeal by the state government.
Earlier in the day, a single bench allowed the public meeting at Mahesh Jagannath Dev Snanpiri Maidan between 1 pm and 3 pm on Friday with up to 2,000 participants, instead of a procession along GT Road.
The state and the owner of the land where the meeting was scheduled then moved the division bench presided over by Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge, challenging the single bench order.
The division bench, also comprising Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, stayed the meeting, saying that the appeal will be heard on Friday.
On being asked by the court whether the particular date of September 11 is of significance for the meeting, the petitioner's lawyer Kalyan Bandopadhyay said there is no such issue and that they were ready to postpone it.
The court recorded the submission of Bandopadhyay and stayed the meeting.
The single bench order of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya came on a petition filed by former Trinamool Congress MLA Asit Majumdar, challenging the police's refusal to grant permission for a procession through GT Road, which Banerjee was scheduled to lead.
The single bench took note of the inconvenience that a rally on the narrow GT Road on a working day could cause to residents and accepted the petitioner's suggestion to hold a meeting instead.
Justice Bhattacharyya also referred to two earlier occasions when the court's directions regarding political programmes of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress faction in Kolkata were allegedly not followed.
The court had directed that one lane of Cathedral Road in south Kolkata be kept open while meetings were held on the other side on July 21 and August 28.
Justice Bhattacharyya noted that, according to reports submitted by the authorities, the restrictions were not followed on those occasions, with both flanks allegedly being occupied and the movement of vehicles and pedestrians affected.
Bandopadhyay, who is also a TMC MP from Sreerampur, said limiting the number of participants would be difficult as Banerjee is "the most charismatic leader in West Bengal".
The judge said that since the petitioner had approached the court, a balance had to be struck between preserving the petitioner's democratic right and ensuring that police authorities do not face difficulties in managing the situation on the day of the programme.
