Calcutta HC upholds green-lobbyists; disallows book fair at Maidan

Kolkata, Jan 29 (UNI) In a landmark judgment, the Calcutta High Court today refused the Publishers and Booksellers Guild to hold the 32nd Kolkata Book Fair at Maidan greens on the Brigade Parade Ground, leaving the West Bengal government egg-faced.

This triggered celebrations among the green activists, while the government, intelligensia and book lovers saw red in the decision.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice K K Prasad set aside the permission by the Defence department, the custodians of the Maidan, obtained by the Guild by ''deceit''.

It asked the Guild to restore the Maidan, where the organisers had started construction work of the structures, to its original position within seven days and hand over the place to the Army.

The bench also dubbed the West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) as ''reckless'' for granting permission illegally to the Guild.

''It is a victory for the environment,'' green activist and Maidan crusader Subhas Dutta said after the verdict.

The verdict also came as a ''moral defeat'' for West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who went out of his way to ensure that the fair was held on the green acres in the heart of the city.

''We are grateful to the judiciary for protecting the right of people to live in good health,'' Mr Dutta said. ''If greenery survives, it would be for judiciary. No book lover or pollution board member came to see the condition of the Maidan after the fair,'' he added.

The court slammed the WBPCB for granting permission to the fair without any proper inquiry.

The verdict triggered utter chaos, with various foreign countries, including theme country Australia, set to participate in the event and foreign delegates scheduled to arrive.

''We will hold a parallel book fair on the same ground at the same time by reading books after a symbolic inauguration,'' an angry littarateur Sunil Gangopadhayay said after the verdict.

Uncertainty was looming over holding of the January 31-February 11 Kolkata Book Fair with the Calcutta High Court halting all construction work at the Maidan greens on Thursday last till it announced its final verdict today.

The holding of the book fair at the Maidan ground had become a bone of contention between the Chief Minister and the Guild on the one hand and the green lobby on the other.

The bench had directed the Guild to stop construction work again after the organisers failed to satisfy it with the validity of the permission letter they had procured from the defence department.

The court was not satisfied with the legal validity of the various permissions from the corporation, police, fire brigade, pollution board and the Public Works Department (PWD) obtained by the Guild.

''The bench was acting on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyers Arunava Ghosh and Kalyan Bandopadhayay against holding of the fair on the environmental grounds.

''The permission was granted to the Guild in an unfair manner.

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had sought permission from the Defence department for a private body like the Guild as per media reports while other organisers were not allowed to hold any fair on the same ground for environmental reasons, '' petitioner Kalyan Bandopadhayay said.

'' The Maidan is lungs of the city and any fair allowed would cause environmental damage,'' he said. The Kolkata Maidan is a vast open space.

The fair is one of the biggest in the world in its category. It is held over an area of about 12.5 lakh square feet and hosts about 900 bookstalls.

About two-and-a-half million people visit the fair every year where participants sell books worth about Rs 20 crore.

UNI