HC Directs Bengal Govt to Submit Affidavit on Puja Panels' Grant Utilisation

The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the West Bengal Government to file an affidavit within 48 hours, furnishing details of accounts submitted by clubs that had received Durga Puja grants from the state in previous years.

- KAUSHIK PRADHAN @ Kolkata

A division bench of Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Smita Das De also asked the state to file an affidavit stating the steps it had taken against the clubs that did not submit utilisation certificates for the grants. The Calcutta High Court has, on several occasions in the past, directed recipients of Durga Puja grants to submit accounts of the utilised grants.

The bench passed the direction after hearing a writ petition, which stated that many of the 20,000-odd clubs did not submit the utilisation certificates.