The Calcutta High Court has stayed an order granting police protection to a CPM book stall in Bongaon and directed authorities to remove all stalls erected without permission, including one linked to the Hindu Jagran Mancha.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge passed the order on Friday while hearing the state’s challenge to a single-judge direction concerning the CPM stall. The bench said the issue of which court should hear the matter—whether a judge dealing with land matters or police action—would be decided after the Durga Puja vacation. Until then, it stayed the earlier order.
The dispute concerns stalls put up beside a Public Works Department road and on PWD land in Bongaon during the Durga Puja period. The state told the division bench that it would determine whether the Hindu Jagran Mancha had obtained permission to erect its book stall. The court directed that any stall without the required approval should be removed.
“There needs to be equality in the eyes of law,” the division bench said. It also directed the Additional Advocate General to ensure that the police authorities investigate whether the Hindu Jagran Mancha had permission and, if not, initiate immediate steps for removal.
The proceedings followed a dispute in which the CPM had approached the High Court after alleging that its workers were assaulted by members of the Hindu Jagran Mancha on October 6 while they were putting up their book stall. Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya had earlier directed the police to examine whether other stalls in the area had permission from the PWD or another state authority.
The state had not initially submitted a report on the permissions held by the other stall operators, according to the proceedings described in court. The single judge had observed that allowing one organisation to operate while preventing another from doing so could raise questions of unequal treatment. The order had also directed the police to consider the highway authority’s position before clearing the stalls.
The division bench did not accept the CPM’s argument that permission had not been required for roadside book stalls during Sharodotsav or Durga Puja for the past 50 years. The court treated the activity as commercial and held that the same rules should apply to all stall operators. The CPM’s counsel, senior advocate Samim Ahmed, suggested that the party could use a table and umbrella instead of a stall, but the proposal was opposed by the state.
The case highlights the administrative role of land-owning and road authorities during temporary public-space use. Roads and adjoining public land cannot be treated as available for seasonal commercial activity solely because similar stalls may have operated there earlier. The court’s direction places the immediate responsibility on the Bongaon police district superintendent and the officer-in-charge of Bongaon police station to verify permissions and act against unauthorised structures.
The next procedural question is whether the matter should be heard by the bench handling land-related issues or by one dealing with police action. The division bench said that jurisdiction would be decided after the Durga Puja vacation, while the direction to remove stalls lacking permission remains the immediate operational issue.
