The BJP’s ''rath yatra'' in West Bengal, allowed on Thursday by a single Bench of the Calcutta High Court of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty , is postponed again, as a Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Debasish Kargupta and Justice Shampa Sarkar, on Friday asked the single Bench to take a relook at the intelligence reports from districts before allowing the proposed ''yatra.''
Trinamool Congress secretary general and senior Minister Partha Chatterjee said the Division Bench issued a stay on the order of the single Bench of Justice Chakravarty. It asked [the single Bench] to examine the district intelligence reports, which it had not done, and then to decide on the basis of these reports that outlined the risks of running such a ''yatra.''
The court will now go on a two-week winter recess.
BJP may move Supreme Court
The State BJP is likely to move the Supreme Court by Saturday against the Division Bench order.
Lawyer Abhisekh Manu Singhvi, representing the State, moved the Division Bench, challenging the single Bench ruling. The government expressed urgency and sought an immediate hearing.
The court granted leave to the government to move an appeal and asked it to serve copies of the appeal to respondent, the BJP.
The single Bench on Thursday set aside the denial of permission for the ''yatra'' by a panel of three most senior government officers.
On December 6, single-judge Bench refused permission to the BJP to hold a ‘rath yatra’, which was scheduled to be flagged off by BJP chief Amit Shah from Cooch Behar in North Bengal on December 7. The party then approached the Division Bench.
The Division Bench, on December 7, asked the State Chief Secretary, the Home Secretary and the Director General of Police to hold a meeting with three representatives of the BJP and take a decision on the ‘yatra’ by December 14.
(With inputs from PTI )
