News Analysis India

Tag: West Bengal Government

  • West Bengal government appoints 10 IPS officers to assist SIT probe on post-poll violence

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The West Bengal government has appointed ten IPS officers to assist a special investigating team (SIT) formed by the Calcutta High Court to probe cases of post-poll violence in the state, a senior official said on Thursday.

    The officers have been deployed for north, west and south zones of the state as well as for the Kolkata Police areas, he said.

    “The services of the IPS officers are hereby spared, in addition to their normal duties, to assist the SIT constituted by the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta (sic),” an order issued by the state home department stated.

    A five-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court had on August 19 ordered the constitution of the SIT comprising IPS officers Soumen Mitra, Suman Bala Sahoo and Ranbir Kumar to look into the incidents of post-poll violence.

  • West Bengal moves SC against Calcutta HC order of CBI probe into post-poll violence cases

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The West Bengal government Wednesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Calcutta High Court order directing the court-monitored CBI investigation into all heinous cases like rape and murder during the post-poll violence in the state after accepting the recommendations of an NHRC panel.

    The state government in its special leave petition alleged that it did not expect fair and just investigation by the central agency which is busy foisting cases against the functionaries of ruling Trinamool Congress Party.

    Earlier, lawyer Anindya Sundar Das, one of the PIL petitioners on whose plea the High Court August 19 verdict had come, had filed a caveat in the apex court urging that no order be passed without hearing him if the state or other litigant move appeals.

    A five-judge bench of the High Court, headed by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, had ordered a CBI investigation in all alleged cases of heinous crimes in West Bengal after the assembly poll results this year in which the ruling TMC came back to power.

    As regards other criminal cases related to post-poll violence, the high court had directed that they be investigated by a Special Investigation Team under the monitoring of the court.

    The high court bench, which also comprised justices I P Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Subrata Talukdar, had observed that there were “definite and proved” allegations that complaints of the victims of violence in the aftermath of the West Bengal assembly polls were not even registered.

    Ordering setting up of an SIT to probe all other cases, it had said that it will include Suman Bala Sahoo, Soumen Mitra and Ranveer Kumar, all IPS officers of the West Bengal cadre.

    “All the cases where, as per the report of the Committee, the allegations are about murder of a person and crime against women regarding rape/attempt to rape, shall be referred to CBI for investigation,” it had said.

    The high court has also directed the NHRC committee, constituted by its chairman on a direction by the five-judge bench, and any other commission or authority and the state to immediately hand over the records of the cases to the CBI to carry forward the probe.

    The bench had said it will monitor the investigations by both the CBI and the SIT and asked the two agencies to submit status reports to the court within six weeks.

    It had said that the working of the SIT will be overseen by a retired Judge of the Supreme Court for which a separate order will be passed after obtaining his/her consent.

    In its ruling, the bench had said heinous crimes such as murder and rape “deserve to be investigated by an independent agency which in the circumstances can only be Central Bureau of Investigation.”

    The bench had said the State failed to register FIRs even in some cases of alleged murders.

    “This shows a pre-determined mind to take the investigation into a particular direction. Under such circumstances investigation by an independent agency will inspire confidence to all concerned,” it had noted.

    It had said allegations that the police had not registered a number of cases initially and that some were registered only after the court had intervened or the committee was constituted were found to be true.

    It had observed that the facts in relation to the allegations made in the PILs are “even more glaring” as the incidents are not isolated to one place in the state.

    The NHRC committee had on July 13 submitted its final report to the court.

    An interim report of the NHRC committee had mentioned that Atif Rasheed, a member of the committee, was obstructed from discharging his duty and he and his team members were attacked by some undesirable elements on June 29 in the Jadavpur area on the southern fringe of the city, the court noted.

    The PILs had alleged that people were subjected to assault, made to flee homes and properties were destroyed during the violence in the wake of the assembly elections and sought impartial probe into the incidents.

  • Banks to operate full time in West Bengal from Thursday: CM Mamata Banerjee

    Banking hours were revised several times in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in Bengal during the course of the second wave.

  • West Bengal illegal coal mining scam case: SC adjourns hearing for two weeks

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing for two weeks, the appeal filed by the prime accused, Anup Majee and also Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government against the Calcutta High Court’s order sanctioning CBI probe into the illegal coal mining scam “without the state’s consent”.

    A two-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Dr Dhananjaya Yashwant Chandrachud and also comprising Justice M R Shah, adjourned the appeal filed by Majee for two weeks.

    The Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, the senior lawyer appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), sought two weeks more time from the Supreme Court to file his reply, to which, the top court allowed his prayer, and fixed the matter for further hearing after two weeks.

    Mamata Banerjee government and Majee claimed that as the state government had in 2018 refused to give a go-ahead for a CBI probe in the case, so thereby, the CBI cannot be now given the task of probing the mining scam.

    The wife of Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is also being probed in the alleged scam and has also been served a notice in the case.

    On one of the hearings, the apex court had stayed the arrest of prime accused, Majee till further hearing in the case.

    The apex court was hearing the petition filed by the accused, Majee, on whether the probe agency, the CBI can exercise its jurisdiction over railway areas, in the state, without the prior consent of the state government concerned.

    The state government had filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court and stated that the CBI did not have the jurisdiction to probe this case, as the state had not given its consent for go-ahead with the CBI investigation. But the same case is still being investigated by the CBI, the West Bengal State government had said in its reply, filed before the Supreme Court. 

  • Bengal allows business establishments to remain open till maximum 10.30 PM

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Friday allowed all shops and business establishments including bars and restaurants to remain open till usual working hours but not beyond 10.30 PM.

    The relaxation will come into effect from Monday onwards.

    The state administration had on Thursday extended the existing COVID restrictions till August 30 but reduced night curfew timings by two hours, imposing it from 11 PM to 5 AM.

    It allowed outdoor government programmes with strict adherence to COVID protocols.

    The state administration also permitted theatres, auditoria and open air theatres to operate with not more than 50 per cent of their respective seating capacities.

    “Stadiums and swimming pools may remain open with 50 per cent of their respective at a time,” the order stated.

    Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had announced the extension of COVID restrictions along with night curfew relaxations on Thursday.

    A decision in this regard was taken following a review of the prevailing situation by the executive committee of the state disaster management authority.

    Meanwhile, the state’s COVID-19 tally rose to 15,37,185 as 739 more people tested positive for the infection, while eight fresh fatalities pushed its coronavirus death toll to 18,276, a health bulletin said.

    North 24 Parganas district recorded the highest number of new cases at 89, followed by 88 in Kolkata.

    North 24 Parganas also registered the highest number of fresh fatalities at four, followed by three in Kolkata.

    The state now has 10,109 active cases, while 749 more people were cured of the disease, taking the total number of recoveries to 15,08,800, the bulletin said, adding that the recovery rate has improved to 98.15 per cent.

    West Bengal has tested over 1.63 lakh samples for COVID-19 thus far, including 45,442 in the last 24 hours.

  • Calcutta High Court asks Bengal government to submit student-teacher ratio, other data in schools

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the West Bengal government to submit a report on the status of state-run and aided schools, including student-teacher ratio, by September 7.

    A division bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice R Bharadwaj directed the state to provide the data during the hearing of a PIL over disproportionate number of teachers at three schools in Bankura district.

    The petitioners alleged that while there are more than adequate teachers in one, two others have no permanent teachers and are being run by para-teachers/ The three educational institutions are situated within a radius of five kilometres, they said.

    The bench directed the state government to submit a report within September 7 on the status of state-run and aided schools in West Bengal, including the student-teacher ratio.

    The petitioners claimed that owing to lack of permanent teachers, the dropout rate in the two schools is high.

  • Centre rejects 9.5 lakh applications from Bengal farmers for subsidy 

    By Express News Service

    KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Wednesday wrote to the Centre after applications of close to 9.5 lakh farmers from the state for the PM-Kisan scheme were rejected.The state government had uploaded the names of 44,89,831 farmers on the Centre’s portal for their inclusion in the Central scheme. Of that, 9,41,861 names were rejected. Applications of 24,31,885 farmers were accepted while 10 lakh applications are being verified. 

    The PM-Kisan scheme for peasants became the BJP’s poll plank in West Bengal ahead of the recent Assembly elections in the state. The party had accused West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee of blocking the scheme in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the issue repeatedly during their election campaign in Bengal in a bid to gain farmers’s support. In a letter to the Centre, the state government stressed that the Central scheme, under which `6,000 is provided each year to each applicants, should be extended to all the farmers whose names were uploaded by the state.

    “We have sent a letter to the Union government a few days ago asking for the reason behind the decision to exclude names of about 9.5 lakh farmers. We have also demanded that the benefit be given to all farmers whose names we have uploaded. We are yet to get a reponse from the Centre,” said a government official at the state secretariat. “The Centre has accused our CM of blocking the scheme and depriving farmers of its benefits. Now they are depriving 9.5 lakh peasants. We will make it a political issue in near future,” a TMC leader said.

  • WB govt told to file affidavit on violence 

    Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  A day after the state government condemned the findings of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on post-election violence in West Bengal as a “witch hunt”, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted time till July 31 to the state government to submit its supplementary affidavit.

    The court made it clear that it will not allow further extension of time and posted the matter for hearing on August 1. Refuting every allegation made by the NHRC committee, which was constituted following an order of the High Court, Bengal home secretary, in an affidavit submitted on Tuesday, said the panel was biased against the ruling dispensation and members of the committee have close association with the BJP or the Centre.

    In its affidavit, Bengal government accused the NHRC chairperson of abusing the entire process and alleged that the committee was “deliberately constituted to spearhead a witch hunt against the entire state machinery”. 

  • Calcutta HC allows WB govt to file supplementary affidavits on NHRC post-poll violence report 

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted the West Bengal government time to file supplementary affidavits by July 31 in connection with an NHRC inquiry committee report on alleged post-poll violence in the state.

    A five-judge bench, presided by Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, directed that the matter will be taken up for hearing again on August 2.

    The high court granted the state government time to file the supplementary affidavits following a prayer by it.

    The DNA report of deceased BJP labour wing leader Avijit Sarkar was also submitted by the additional solicitor general before the bench, which was hearing PILs claiming assault on people, forcing them to flee homes and destruction of property due to violence following the assembly elections.

    The court had directed a DNA matching of Sarkar with his brother for identification.

    A second autopsy had earlier been carried out at the Command Hospital here on an order by the bench.

    The NHRC committee, set up by its chairman on a direction by the court, had made scathing comments on the law and order situation in West Bengal in its final report submitted before it on July 13.

    The state government, in an affidavit submitted on Monday, denied the findings of the report and alleged that it is politically motivated and aimed at maligning the Mamata Banerjee dispensation.

  • West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee​ leaves for Delhi on five-day visit; will meet opposition leaders

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday left for Delhi on a five-day visit, where she is slated to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and several front-ranking opposition leaders.

    The Trinamool Congress supremo, who apparently seeks to take up a larger role in national politics prior to the 2024 Lok Sabha election, is visiting Delhi for the first time after leading her party to power in West Bengal for the third time in a row.

    The BJP’s West Bengal unit alleged that Banerjee wants to be away from the state for a few days as she is facing criticism over the fake COVID vaccination scandal, post-poll violence and other issues. Her efforts to unite opposition parties will not succeed, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh claimed.

    After attending a special state cabinet meeting, the chief minister left for the national capital. She did not talk to newspersons at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata.

    Banerjee told reporters earlier that the PM has given time to her for a meeting later this week while she would also like to call on President Ram Nath Kovind. However, she had refused to disclose details of her proposed meeting with Modi.

    TMC sources said that during her visit from July 26-30, she may also go to Parliament where the monsoon session is in progress. The BJP state president told reporters that Banerjee is currently facing criticism from various quarters over issues such as the dubious vaccination scandal, fake IAS-IPS officers and post-poll violence.

    “The state government is bankrupt and she doesn’t know how to foot the bills. She wants to get some relief from all these pressures for some days. She also wants to meet the PM to seek financial help,” Ghosh told reporters.

    He claimed that any effort by Banerjee to stitch a unified front of opposition parties will not succeed. “In 2019, she had invited several opposition leaders to Kolkata but Modi came back to power with a thumping majority in the Lok Sabha polls,” Ghosh said.