Archana Rani Daw @ Archana Daw & Ors vs The State Of West Bengal & Ors
2023 Latest Caselaw 7362 Cal

09.11.2023
Item No.48
Ct. No.5
Vacation Bench
CHC/S. De
(disposed of)



                                  W.P.A.25908 of 2023

                      Archana Rani Daw @ Archana Daw & ors.
                                        Vs.
                          The State of West Bengal & ors.


                   Mr. Sakya Sen,
                   Mr. Jayanta Sengupta,
                   Mr. Arnab Dutt,
                   Ms. Laboni Dey
                                 ...for the petitioners

                   Mr. Pritam Choudhury,
                   Ms. Rupsa Chakraborty
                                ...for the State

                   Mr. Prasenjit Mukherjee,
                   Mr. Jahangir Hossain,
                   Mr. Saptarshi Chakraborty
                                  ...for the intervening party



                           The report filed by the Officer-in-Charge,

                 Bally Police Station, H.P.C signed on November 8,

                 2023 be retained in the record.

                           The petitioners claim to be the shebaits of

                 the Shib Krishna Debuttar Estate, commonly known

                 as Rashbari, at 6, Kakeswar Tala Lane, Bally,

                 Howrah.

                           The grievance of the petitioners is that the

                 police has refused to accept the objection which the

                 petitioners   intend     to     put    in     for   restraining

                 performance of the Chhat Puja from the private ghat

                 of the subject premises.
                      2




         It has been submitted that the property in

question is presently under the supervision of the

learned Receiver who is a learned advocate of this

Court.

         Learned         advocate   representing       the

interveners who claims to be the devotees and who

intend to perform the Chhat Puja from the said

private ghat objects to the prayer made by the

petitioners.

         It    has   been    submitted   that   they   are

performing the puja from the said ghat for a

considerable period of time. Reference has been made

to judgment passed by this Court on 28 th October,

2022 in W.P.A.23385 of 2022 (Jagendra Ram and

anr. vs. State of West Bengal and ors.) where the

Court permitted the devotees to perform the puja.

         The Receiver has been arraigned as a party

respondent in the present writ petition and he is

present in Court. It has been submitted by the

Receiver that objection has been filed before the police

so that permission may not be granted for holding the

puja from the said ghat.

The petitioners contend that in the earlier

occasion huge of number of devotees entered the ghat

and caused enough damage to the existing old

property.

It has further been submitted that the

judgment passed by the Court was behind their back

and the petitioners were not impleaded as parties in

the said writ petition.

The police is refusing to accept the objection

intended to be filed by the petitioners relying upon

the judgment passed by this Court on 28 th October,

2022.

Upon hearing the parties and upon perusal

of the materials on record, it is evident that the

judgment dated 28th October, 2022 was passed in a

writ petition where the owners of the subject property

were not impleaded as parties. The writ petition was

filed at the instance of one Sarbajanik Chhat Puja

Samity Bally, Howrah. There was none to oppose the

prayer of the writ petitioners in the said writ petition.

In the present case, the writ petitioners have

come up with a definite stand that the ghat in

question is a private ghat and the property in

question is presently under the supervision of the

Receiver. Both the writ petitioners and the Receiver

object to the grant of permission for holding the

Chhat Puja from the said private ghat.

It has been submitted by the learned

advocate representing the writ petitioners that there

similar ghats by the side of the river.

It appears that as the property in question is

an old one and huge number of devotees flock on the

day of the puja, the same is causing damage to the

property. It is not necessary that the Chhat Puja has

to be performed from that particular ghat. There are

several other ghats by the side of the Rashbari ghat

from where the devotees can perform the Chhat Puja.

Accordingly, the Inspector-in-Charge, Bally

Police Station is directed to accept the objection

intended to be filed by the writ petitioners and

thereafter take a decision in the matter. The police

shall not be influenced by the ex parte order that was

passed behind the back of the petitioners in the year

2022 for performing the Chhat Puja.

In the event, the police is of the opinion that

there is no other ghat nearby from where the puja

may be performed, in that event, strict measures

shall be adopted by the police to ensure that the

private ghat of the petitioners is not damaged in any

manner whatsoever. The crowd and footfall shall be

effectively managed by the police.

The police shall accept the complaint and

take a decision in the matter at the earliest.

The writ petition stands disposed of.

Urgent certified photocopy of this order, if

applied for, be supplied to the parties expeditiously

on compliance of usual legal formalities.

(Amrita Sinha, J.)