The court should not be used for political mileage, Calcutta HC chief justice

Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam, on Monday, observed that the court should not be used as a medium for political gains by filing multiple petitions on the forthcoming panchayat polls in West Bengal.

Justice Sivagnanam made this observation while hearing a PIL filed by an individual demanding dismissal of Rajiva Sinha as the West Bengal State Election Commissioner.

"So many petitions have been filed at the Calcutta High Court on rural civic body polls. Each of them has some political affiliation. Each of you wants to be in the headlines. But please stop using this court as a medium for it," Justice Sivagnanam observed.

The individual, Nobyendu Bandyopadhyay, filed the petition on June 26, which was dismissed on Monday. While dismissing the petition, Justice Sivagnanam also questioned the knowledge of the petitioner regarding the appointment rules on this count. "Are you aware of the appointment rules? Are you aware of the specific law in the matter? Are such petitions aiming at coming to the headlines?" the Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice observed.

On Monday, the same division of the Chief Justice also dismissed another PIL demanding cancellation of panchayat polls and imposition of the President's Rule in West Bengal.

In the PIL, the petitioner argued that since so many lives had already been lost over the forthcoming rural civic body polls in the state, the process of election must be stopped.

While dismissing the PIL, the division bench observed that since both the Supreme Court of India and Calcutta High Court had given specific rulings in the matter, the petition demanding cancellation of the panchayat polls was not admissible.

As regards to the plea on imposition of the President's Rule in West Bengal, the division bench observed that the high court cannot take any stand in the matter and hence this part of the PIL is also not admissible.