Kolkata, July 31 (IANS) A single-judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Friday cautioned the “original but minority” faction of the Trinamool Congress, led by former West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, over a violation of the earlier court order fixing the upper limit in the number of participants at the Martyrs’ Day rally organised by them in front of Birla Planetarium in Central Kolkata on July 21.

A petition was filed at the Calcutta High Court last week accusing the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of assembling participants over and above the court-ordered limit.

Because of that, the petitioner alleged, both the lanes in front of Birla Planetarium had to be blocked while the clear order of the court was that the rally should be conducted by keeping one lane free for vehicular movement.

The matter came up for hearing at the single-judge Bench of Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya on Friday afternoon. At the end of the hearing, Justice Bhattacharyya expressed dismay over the violation of the earlier court order both in terms of the maximum number of participants at the rally as well as blocking both the lanes in front of Birla Planetarium.

The Bench also cautioned that the court would be forced to take strong action in case of future violation of its orders.

To recall, initially, Kolkata Police did not give permission to the Mamata faction of the Trinamool Congress to hold the meeting on July 21 at the traditional venue in front of the CESC House near Esplanade Crossing in central Kolkata.

Thereafter, they approached the Calcutta High Court for permission, which allowed the rally but after imposing strict conditions.

The two main conditions were that the number of participants should not exceed 2,500 and one of the two lanes in front of Birla Planetarium should be kept free for vehicular movement.

However, in reality, the number of participants far exceed the limit of 2,500 and hence both the lanes in front of Birla Planetarium got blocked, thus causing immense congestion in that busy area.

–IANS

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