Court ban on CITU, Trinamul bandhs

The Calcutta High Court directed the All India Trinamul Congress and its supremo Mamata Banerjee to withdraw the 12 hours Bangla Bandh called by the party on December 3, 2004.

The High Court also declared as illegal and unconstitutional the Left Front government backed 'chakka jam' agitation to stop vehicles at noon for 30 minutes on December 1, called by the trade union body CITU.

The High Court told the government to ensure that movement of commuters was not disrupted by stalled vehicles.

Responding to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by All India Minority Forum, a division bench specially assigned to hear the bandh matter passed the directive.

Mamata Banerjee was not available for comment.

The Trinamool MLA from Asansol, Kalyan Banerjee, told Business Standard, "The party is not aware of any court order till now, and it has not received any notice of the case, so right now the party is busy working to make the bandh a total success ".

He added, "If we received the order, then it will be dealt with properly".

The High Court Division bench of Justice P K Roy and Justice J P Bhattacharyya, while passing the order, directed the registrar of the High Court and the state government to communicate the order to the All India Trinamul Congress (TMC).

The court further directed TMC to convey the decision on withdrawal of the bandh to media organisations within December 2.

The High Court directed both central and state governments to take measures so that normal life was not disrupted on December 3.

The court directed TMC and the state chief secretary to file a report of compliance of the order to the court on December 7, the next date of hearing of the case.