How many clubs have revealed their accounts for Durga Puja donations till last year? What action has been taken against those who have not? These were questions asked by the Calcutta High Court on Monday which directed the West Bengal Government to share details of accounts submitted by the clubs that had received Durga Puja grants from the state in previous years. The state has been given a deadline of 48 hours to furnish the details.
A division bench of Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Smita Das De also asked the state to file an affidavit on what steps it had taken against the clubs that did not submit the utilisation certificate of the grant. The affidavit must be submitted to the court within the next 48 hours. Why would grants be given even if they have not submitted expenditure accounts, the court questioned.
PIL filed in 2020 questioning state’s grant to clubs for Durga Puja
It is worth noting that the state announced a grant of Rs 25,000 to the Durga Puja committees in 2019. In 2020, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, it was announced that the grant amount would be increased to Rs 50,000 per club. Questioning this, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the High Court in 2020. This year the grant has been increased to Rs 1 lakh 10 thousand, as per a recent announcement by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
A case was filed by a person named Saurabh Dutta, a resident of Durgapur. He had alleged that government’s funds are being misused. His lawyers, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and Shamim Ahmed, argued that the government is giving away public money to the puja committees without spending it in the right place. However, the state’s argument was that the money was given to be used for the benefit of the people, and the police were spending the money to raise awareness about the ‘Safe Drive Save Life’ campaign. The money was also spent to ensure several restrictions during COVID-19.
At that time, the high court had ordered that the puja committees would have to provide details of accounts of where the government grant was being spent.
What is the relevance of this case after Durga Puja? Calcutta High Court asks state
In his submission, Advocate General Kishore Datta said on Monday that the High Court had never turned down the state’s decision to give Durga Puja grants to clubs. Advocate Datta pleaded to fix the matter for next hearing after the Durga Puja, when the state would submit the affidavit. However, Justice Sujoy Pal objected to this. The court questioned, what is the relevance of this case after Durga Puja? Because, the court has repeatedly asked the clubs to give an accurate account. However, that account has not been shared. Therefore, if action is to be taken in this regard, it must be done before the Puja. The plaintiff’s lawyer has alleged that many puja committees had not submitted the accounts.
“What importance will this petition have if it is heard after the pujas? It has been stated in the petition that many clubs were not submitting accounts despite recurrent orders from the high court to submit utilisation accounts. Therefore, if the court intends to take steps in this regard, it has to be before the pujas,” the Division bench observed on Monday.
There have been allegations in the case that many clubs conducting Durga Puja have not given accounts of the past years. Hence the judge ordered the state to give an affidavit and account for the income and expenditure related to the donations of the clubs. The next hearing of the case is scheduled on Wednesday.