The Calcutta High Court on Monday suggested that the CPI(M)’s cultural wing could set up its bookstalls during Kali Puja instead of Durga Puja, while hearing a petition challenging the denial of permission for temporary stalls in Naihati and Bongaon in North 24-Parganas.
The petitioners told the court that they had been setting up bookstalls at the two locations during Durga Puja celebrations for five decades. Their lawyer, Shamim Ahmed, said the authorities refused permission this year, citing “a direction from higher authorities”.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya questioned whether the long-standing practice gave the petitioners an automatic right to establish the stalls. During the hearing, the judge verbally suggested that the bookstalls could instead be organised during Kali Puja, which is scheduled about a fortnight after Durga Puja.
The suggestion places the dispute within the broader administrative question of how temporary activities are permitted in public spaces around major festivals. In the petitioners’ account, the stalls had been a recurring part of the festival environment in both North 24-Parganas locations for around 50 years. The authorities, however, declined permission this year without the petitioners being told more specifically what the cited direction from higher authorities required.
The CPI(M)’s cultural wings traditionally set up bookstalls near puja pandals across West Bengal during Durga Puja. The stalls combine temporary commercial activity with the distribution and sale of books, making permission decisions dependent on the arrangements made by local authorities and festival committees for crowded public areas.
The dispute also follows a political controversy over the presence of CPI(M) bookstalls near puja pandals. The source report said Suvendu Adhikari had last month asked Durga Puja committees not to allow such stalls if they used the term “Sharodotsav” to describe the festivities, arguing that the wording diminished the religious character of “Durga Puja”.
During Monday’s hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer requested that the matter be released from Justice Bhattacharyya’s court. The judge said he would consider that request on Tuesday. Until then, the court’s suggestion to shift the bookstalls to Kali Puja remains an observation during the hearing rather than a final order permitting or prohibiting the stalls during Durga Puja.
