No book fair at Park Circus, says High Court

The Calcutta High Court on Monday banned Book Fair at Park Circus Maidan citing reasons like violation of environmental laws, noise pollution laws, constitutional rights (Articles 14 and 21) and violation of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act.

The divisional bench comprised Chief Justice S S Nijjar and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh.

The fair, the second largest in the world after Frankfurt, was to be inaugurated on January 29.

The fair was shifted from the Maidan area in 2007 as the High Court felt then that under the state government's rules, it caused environment pollution.

It had been held on the Maidan for 31 years as that was the most convenient and popular location for the fair with excellent transport links and conveniences for visitors from the districts.

The fair at the Maidan faced a legal challenge from some environmental activists who used the rules of the government and KMC to get it shifted to Salt Lake in 2007.

Reacting to the verdict, the secretary of the Booksellers & Publishers' Guild, Tridib Chatterjee, said it would not organize a book fair in the city unless a venue acceptable to all was found.

The High Court directed the Guild to restore Park Circus to its original condition and hand it back to Kolkata Municipal Corporation at the earliest.

The bench issued the order in response to a PIL filed by local residents of Park Circus who pleaded that the fair and its lakhs of visitors daily in the densely populated residential area housing several schools and colleges and two important hospitals would violate clauses of the Pollution Act, Environment Protection Act and Noise Pollution Act.

After hearing all the parties in the PIL over the last week, the Chief Justice himself visited the Park Circus area on January 26 to get a first hand idea of the ground situation there.

Kolkata Book Fair in 2007 saw around 2.5 million visitors.