Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed Trinamool to hold a political meeting on Sept 26 from 4pm to 6pm at the Serampore court complex, which will be attended by former CM Mamata Banerjee, after the trustee of Mahesh Jagannath Dev’s Snanpiri Maidan refused permission to hold the meeting on its property.The state had on Sept 11, offered the party two alternative venues in Serampore, but it rejected both. The state had also maintained that the meeting could be held only on a Sunday.After hearing arguments on the venue and size of the gathering, a single bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya permitted 1,000 members to assemble for the meeting on a Saturday. The court also requested the Hooghly district judge to grant necessary permission. It directed that no speeches should be made that could cause communal disharmony or create a law-and-order problem.Justice Bhattacharyya held that political meetings cannot be organised on private property without the trustee’s permission. However, he questioned the “uniformity” of the trustee’s decision to refuse permission, particularly since political meetings had been allowed there in the recent past, including during this year’s assembly election.“You are a religious trustee board. Your approach should be apolitical and uniform…if subsequently, the court finds that other meetings are being held there by other political parties or other organisations then it will send the wrong message…” the judge observed.He said the board’s July 8 resolution against allowing political meetings or programmes should not be implemented on a “pick and choose basis”. “If you have a right to resist, this right should be exerted uniformly,” he told the trustee’s counsel.The trustee and the state had filed separate review petitions before the single bench after a division bench headed by Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge dismissed their appeal.Questioning the state’s appeal, the judge asked, “How are police authorities affected?” Additional advocate general Bilwadal Bhattacharyya said the police concern was whether the party had been allowed “subject to” the landowner’s permission.A senior advocate for TMC alleged the ruling dispensation was being given a leeway. Justice Bhattacharyya replied, “Your party also enjoyed the same privilege for 15 years.”
