Centre, Bengal may now clash over circuit bench

KOLKATA: Even as the dust on Bengal’s top-cop case is just settling, a fresh spat is brewing between the Modi government and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over the inauguration of the circuit bench of the Calcutta High Court at Jalpaiguri in north Bengal.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to inaugurate the circuit bench and later address a public rally. However, Banerjee’s government was not consulted about the inauguration and kept in the dark over the arrangements being made.

Pointing out that the Bengal government spent around Rs 40 crore for the infrastructure of the circuit bench, state law minister Malay Ghatak told ET, “We are still not informed officially. The chief minister’s office and the judicial department were kept in the dark and there has been no consultation. We built the necessary infrastructure, spending Rs 40 crore. And now, the chief minister and the judicial department were not even informed about the inauguration.”


“A small stage has been built beside the platform set up for a political meeting. And the circuit bench will be inaugurated from that small stage. Mamata Banerjee worked hard to get this circuit bench in place. She, in fact, got the presidential assent from former President Pranab Mukherjee for the bench. A team of four to five judges went to the place at least five times and told us what they needed. We, accordingly, built the infrastructure,” Ghatak said. The circuit bench was supposed to be inaugurated on September 17, a date suggested by the High Court, said Ghatak.