Kolkata: With Durga Puja just over a month away, Baghbazar Sarbojanin Durgotsav, the oldest community Durga Puja in Kolkata, is still embroiled in a legal battle. Contenders to various posts at Bagbazar Sarbojanin Durgotsav and Exhibition were at the Calcutta High Court on Thursday to decide if the committee president could have used his vote for the five posts that had ended in a tie.Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, who heard the case, reserved the judgment. , “Why are you fighting over puja? Let it be done,” the single judge said.“But this grabbing of pujas should stop. What is the point of having an election if the president can choose five… cannot happen… the problem here is we are running against time,” senior advocate Aniruddha Chatterjee submitted.While preparations for the Durga Puja usually begin two months ahead of the festival, the delay has led to worries among visitors about the fate of the puja. But a section of the organisers said irrespective of the delay, the puja would be held and pointed at 2022, when a similar dispute was resolved just 28 days before the festival.This year, the fight started on Aug 30, when the election under the purview of two special officers took place in the annual general meeting (AGM) of the committee. In the 14 posts, nine results were decisive, while results in five posts ended in a tie.The president went to a trial court to get an order so that he could cast a vote to break the tie. This came under dispute. According to the arguments by senior advocate Chatterjee and advocate Srijib Chakraborty, appearing for Rabi Sankar Sengupta, the by-law provides that in case there is a tie, the president has one vote as per Rule 37, and not five votes. “Our point was the court should have first decided how many votes he will cast,” advocate Chakraborty said.Senior advocate Saptanshu Basu argued that the president had one vote per tie post, hence, supported the lower court’s order.
