The Calcutta High Court on Monday asked the West Bengal government to submit an affidavit within 48 hours on how many clubs submitted utilisation certificates of last year’s Durga Puja grant from the government and whether the state government took any action against those that failed to submit the utilisation certificates.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging the West Bengal government’s decision to hike the annual Durga Puja grant to Rs 1.10 lakh, which is given to over 40,000 puja committees in the state, the Division Bench of Justice Sujoy Pal and Justice Smita Das De on Monday reminded the state government that the High Court in 2022 had asked Puja committees to submit utilisation certificate, detailing how they used the government’s Puja grants.
The Bench also enquired whether the Puja committees that failed to provide utilisation certificates have been given the grant this year too.
“How many committees have not filed the (utilisation) certificates? Despite that, are they still receiving funds?.. If necessary, stop their grants,” the Bench said, adding that in all previous orders of the High Court, the Puja committees were told to be accountable.
Representing the state government, Advocate General Kishore Dutta told the court that in March 2023, the State had reported over 500 committees receiving funds, of which 36 failed to submit utilisation certificates. He submitted that the government would present a detailed response in the next hearing and stated that since no court had objected to the Durga Puja grants, the next hearing could be held after the Pujas.
Objecting to it, Justice Sujoy Pal said, “What is the importance of this case after the Pujas? The accounts are not being given… Therefore, if action is to be taken in this regard, it must be done before the Pujas. It has been alleged that many clubs have not given any utilisation certificate in previous years.”
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday.
Two PILs have been filed against the Mamata Banerjee-led government’s August 1 decision. One of the PILs has been filed by Durgapur resident Sourav Dutta, who has questioned how the state exchequer money can be used for Durga Puja donations. He had moved the court on the same issue last year, but his petition was dismissed.
In 2022, the High Court had imposed conditions on the state government’s grant, including a requirement for puja committees to submit utilisation certificates.
The state government started providing financial assistance to the puja committees in 2018. In the first year, the grant was Rs 10,000. In 2019, it was increased to Rs 25,000. After that, the amount of the grant continued to increase every year. Last year, it was increased to Rs 85,000, and the government distributed more than Rs 350 crore to the puja committees.
Earlier this month, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a 30 per cent hike in the grant to the puja committees. The Rs 25,000 hike of Puja grant – from last year’s Rs 85,000 to this year’s Rs 1.10 lakh – will cost the state exchequer Rs 500 crore. This year, the festival will be held in the last week of September, and the Durga Puja Carnival will be held on October 5.