Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Friday denied a rally or any march by the state govt employees organisation, Sangrami Joutha Mancha, agitating for outstanding DA in the Bhawanipore area but allowed them to have a sit-in demonstration at Hazra More, with participants cut down from 3,000 to 1,000 on April 12 from noon to 3 pm.“A balance needs to be struck which will not affect the right of Mancha to hold programmes at the same time, and at the same time police authority will not find it difficult to maintain public order and essential services. The right to hold meetings and rallies is derived from Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution but that is subject to reasonable restrictions,” the single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya held, while allowing only a sit-in demonstration. He also directed the protestors to ensure that the traffic is in no way choked.
