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2022 Supreme(Cal) 337
IN THE HIGH COURT OF CALCUTTA
Prakash shrivastava, Rajarshi Bharadwaj, JJ.
Santanu De And Others - Appellant
Versus
State Of West Bengal And Others - Respondent
WPA(P) 445 of 2022 with WPA 7912 of 2020 with CAN 2 of 2022 with WPA(P) 419 of 2022 with WPA(P) 420 of 2022 with WPA(P) 426 of 2022
Decided On : 13-09-2022
Mr. Shamik Bagchi, Mr. Tanmay Basu, Mr. Suvodip Pramanik, Mr. Diganta Bose, Advocates for the petitioner in WPA (P) 445 of 2022 Mr. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, Sr. Advocate Mr. Samim Ahammed, Mr. Siddhartha Sankar Mondal, Mr. Arka Maiti, Mr. Arnab Sinha, Ms. Gulsanara Pervin, Advocates for the petitioner in WPA 7912 of 2020 Mr. Debasish Saha, Mr. Subhajit Bal, Mr. Hiranmoy Debnath, Mr. Purnendu Choudhury, Mr. Subrato Mukherjee, Mr. Jamuna Prasad Sonak, Mr. Firdous Jaman, Mr. Barun Ghosh, Advocates for the petitioners in WPA (P) 419 of 2022 Mr. Jayanta Samanta, Ms. Karunamoyee Samanta, Advocates for the petitioner in WPA (P) 420 of 2022 Mr. Tulsi Das Maiti, Mr. Amlan Mukherjee, Mr. Pradip Kumar Ghosh, Mr. T. P. Acharyya, Mr. Rajit Lal Maitra, Advocates for the petitioner in WPA (P) 426 of 2022, for the Appellant; Mr. Sujit Sankar Koley, Advocate for the WBSEDCL/Respondent No.5 in WPA (P) 445 of 2022 Mr. Deepak Kumar Sarkar, Mr. Ayush Jain, Ms. Deepti Priya, Advocates for the respondent No. 8 in WPA (P) 445 of 2022 Mr. Alok Ghosh, Mr. Subhrangsu Panda, Advocates for the K.M.C. in WPA 7912 of 2020 Mr. Sujit Sankar Koley, Advocate for the WBSEDCL/Respondent No.5 in WPA (P) 419 of 2022 Mr. S.N. Mookherjee, ld. AG Mr. Samrat Sen, ld. AAAG Mr. Anirban Ray, ld. GP Mr. T.M. Siddiqui, ld. AGP Mr. Nilotpal Chatterjee, Mr. Raja Saha, Ms. A. Pandey Mr. Yash Singhi, Ms. Adreeka Pandey, Advocates for the State, for the Respondent
The main legal point established is that public funds should be utilized for the specified public purpose, and strict compliance with guidelines and reporting requirements is necessary.
Headnote:
Public Interest - Grant to Puja Committees - WPA 7912 of 2020 - [Budgetary Provision, Public Purpose, Cultural Heritage] - The court considered the grievance against the declaration made by the Government of West Bengal for providing a grant to Puja Committees during Durga Puja and the concession on electricity consumption bill. The court referred to previous judgments and concluded that the grant should be strictly utilized for the public purpose mentioned in the order dated 6th of September, 2022.
Fact of the Case:
The petitions challenged the declaration by the Government of West Bengal to provide a grant and concession to Puja Committees during Durga Puja, citing financial crunch and prioritization of other schemes.
Finding of the Court:
The court found that the grant should be utilized for the public purpose mentioned in the order dated 6th of September, 2022, and directed strict compliance with guidelines and submission of utilization certificates.
Issues: Grievance against the distribution of public money to Puja Committees during Durga Puja, ignoring larger public interest and financial priorities.
Ratio Decidendi: The court concluded that the grant should be strictly utilized for the public purpose mentioned in the order dated 6th of September, 2022, and directed compliance with guidelines and submission of utilization certificates.
Final Decision: The petitions were disposed of, and the court directed strict utilization of the grant for the public purpose mentioned in the order dated 6th of September, 2022, with compliance and reporting requirements.
JUDGMENT
Prakash Shrivastava, CJ. - The grievance in these petitions as also in CAN 2 of 2022 filed in pending WPA 7912 of 2020 is in respect of the declaration made by the Government of West Bengal for providing a grant of about Rs. 60,000/- each to about 40,092 Puja Committees/Clubs in the State of West Bengal during the Durga Puja, 2022 as also against providing concession, rebate or waiver to the extent of 60% on electricity consumption bill during the said period of Durga Puja to such Puja Committees/Clubs in the State.
2. The grievance arose when on 22nd of August, 2022, the State of West Bengal through its Hon'ble Chief Minister had made a declaration in respect of granting the sum of Rs. 60,000/- to such Puja Committees and extending waiver of 60% of the electricity bills to the Puja Committees. During the pendency of the present petitions, Deputy Secretary to the Government of West Bengal has issued the order dated 6th of September, 2022 for awarding the grant of Rs. 60,000/- to 40,028 Clubs/Puja Committees or other similar organizations (37,028 under West Bengal Police and 3,000 under Kolkata Police). The order discloses administrative approval and financial sanction of a sum of Rs. 240,16,80,000/- in this regard.
3. The grievance of the petitioner is that the public money is sought to be distributed in this manner ignoring the larger public interest when the State is going through financial crunch.
4. Submission of the learned Counsel for the petitioners/applicant is that the distribution of amount has nothing to do with public purpose and that Durga Puja is a private affair. A further plea has been raised that instead of making payment to Amphan victim or implementing Swasthya Sathi Scheme which have higher priority, the money is being wrongly distributed for religious purpose. Learned Senior Counsel for the petitioner has also submitted that by the order dated 6th of September, 2022, the funds are distributed only for Durga Puja which cannot be approved. He further submits that in previous two years the same was permitted by providing guidelines keeping in view the Covid situation but now the situation has improved and no such expenditure is required. It has also been submitted that the Puja Committees are not submitting the utilization certificate.
5. Opposing the prayer, learned Advocate General has submitted that there is already an order of the Division Bench of this Court on this issue which has not been stayed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court and that the expression 'public purpose' is of wide amplitude and the budgetary provision has already been made for allocating the amount. He has further submitted that Durga Puja is a part of cultural heritage of the State and that the object of providing the grant is already mentioned in the order dated 6th of September, 2022. He has further submitted that the State is not extending any concession in the electricity charges but the same is to be extended by the electricity company for which no decision has been taken till now.
6. We have heard learned Counsel for the parties and perused the records.
7. A similar issue had come up before this Court in W.P. No. 19091 (W) of 2018 when the State Government had decided to extend grant to 28000 Puja Organizers for organizing Durga Puja in the year 2018. The Division Bench of this Court by order dated 10th of October, 2018 (Sourav Dutta & Anr. v. The State of West Bengal & Ors. reported in 2018 SCC OnLine 7613) had considered the same grievance raised by the petitioners and had refused to interfere in the matter leaving it to the legislature to decide upon the propriety of expenditure or otherwise. The Division Bench in the matter of Sourav Dutta & Anr. (supra) had noted that:
'18. It is the age old settled principles of law that expenditure by the Government is deemed to be authorized if in the budget and in the Appropriation Acts there is a necessary provision for spending money on the particular acts.
Once there is a prima facie case
