The Calcutta High Court dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) alleging that the land which was earmarked for kabaristhan has been illegally converted to masjid.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice T. S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hrranmay Bhattacharyya noted that the Public Interest Litigation has been filed before the High Court for the second time for virtually the same reliefs.
Earlier, the petitioner had filed a writ petition alleging the same. The petition was disposed of by directing the concerned authority namely the Sub-Divisional Officer, Barrackpore, North 24 Parganas to enquire into the matter.
From the record of the proceeding, the Bench noted that when the case was taken up on 12th October, 2020, the petitioner did not appear.
The Contempt Petition which was filed by the petitioner alleging disobedience of the order passed in the writ petition was dismissed by an order dated 4.5.2022.
Thus, from the above facts, as set out in the petition as well as the filed along with the petition, it was observed by the High Court that the petitioner had not cooperated with the enquiry.
According to the petitioner, the manner in which the enquiry was conducted was itself erroneous. It does not lie in the mouth of the petitioner to raise such contention in the petition having refused to appear before the authority in terms of the direction issued in the earlier writ petition.
However, without going into the merits of the matter, if the petitioner is of the opinion that he has sufficient material to show that there is illegal conversion of land which has been classified as kabarsthan, the Bench granted liberty to the petitioner to submit a fresh representation to the authority concerned, who shall examine the same and take action in accordance with law.