The Calcutta High Court has stayed the no-objection certificate granted by the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) to the CC Block Residents’ Welfare Association for organising Durga Puja this year, directing the authority’s estate manager to reconsider applications from both the association and the New Town CC Block Puja Samity.
The order was issued on Wednesday by Justice Krishna Rao after the puja samity challenged the NKDA’s decision. The samity has been organising Durga Puja in the area since 2019 and had submitted its application in July, but alleged that the authority had not acted on it while granting permission to the residents’ welfare association.
The court’s intervention places the immediate focus on how civic and development authorities handle competing applications for public events. According to the report, Justice Rao observed that when two groups approach the authority to organise the same festival, both should be given an opportunity to be heard. The court found that this had not been done in the case of the puja samity.
The dispute has already affected preparations on the ground. Pandal work by the samity had begun in the CC Block, while the group alleged that members of the residents’ association were preventing it from continuing the work. The court’s stay means that the NOC issued to the residents’ association cannot proceed as the operative permission while the authority reconsiders the competing representations.
The order follows an earlier proceeding in which a lower court issued an ad-interim injunction restraining the residents’ welfare association from collecting donations. The current dispute therefore involves both the authority’s permission for the festival and the competing groups’ ability to raise funds and carry out preparations.
The case highlights the administrative complications that can arise when multiple resident bodies seek permission for a large community event in a planned urban township. Such events typically require decisions on the use of common areas, construction of temporary structures and coordination between residents’ groups and the development authority. In this instance, the court has required the NKDA’s estate manager to review the representations of both sides before taking a fresh decision.
The New Town CC Block Puja Samity had approached the single bench after the NKDA granted the NOC to the residents’ welfare association despite the samity’s pending application. The report does not specify a final date by which the estate manager must complete the reconsideration or whether the authority has issued a revised permission. The next administrative step is the hearing and fresh consideration of both representations by the NKDA estate manager.
