Supreme Court to hear plea challenging West Bengal's decision to grant funds for Durga Puja celebrations

Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear on October 12 an appeal challenging West Bengal government's decision to grant Rs 10,000 each to puja committees in state for Durga Puja celebrations. 

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi was apprised that on October 10 Calcutta High Court had refused to interfere with Mamata Banerjee government's decision to grant funds to Puja committees in state.

bench also comprising Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph was told by lawyer Saurav Dutta, who had filed an appeal against high court's decision, that decision of state government was against established principle of law and sought an urgent hearing on his plea. 

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high court had yesterday refused to interfere in state government's decision to give Rs 10,000 each to 28,000 Durga puja committees in state, and said legislature is appropriate forum to decide on such expenditure.

An interim stay granted by court on disbursal of funds stood vacated as court disposed of plea.

petitioner, in his plea, had challenged government's decision to disburse funds to tune of Rs 28 crore, claiming it was a dole to puja committees and had public purpose.

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plea also claimed that providing funds to puja committees is a violation of secular structure of Constitution. 

On September 10, Mamata Banerjee had declared that Rs 10,000 would be given to each of 28,000 puja committees across state--3,000 in city and 25,000 in districts, costing government an amount of Rs 28 crore.

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