Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday ordered that those clubs that had received govt grant for Durga Puja last year but did not submit utilisation certificates wouldn't get the money this year.
The division bench of justices Sujoy Paul and Smita Das De, while passing the order, directed all clubs eligible for the Durga Puja grant this year to submit utilisation certificates to state govt within a month from Bijaya Dashami.
Advocate general Kishore Datta submitted that state govt had last year released the Durga Puja grant to 41,795 clubs, of which only three, all in the Siliguri Commissionerate area, didn't submit utilisation certificates. | Gold Rates Today in Kolkata | Silver Rates Today in Kolkata"We don't want to get into data mining. Don't release grants to those who didn't submit utilisation certificates," Justice Paul said.
The judge stated that former high court Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava had on Sept 13, 2022, ordered that only those clubs that would furnish utilisation certificates within the stipulated period would be entitled to the puja grant the following year.
The bench also directed the state to submit a report a month after the Puja holidays stating how many clubs received the Durga Puja grant this year, and how many among them submitted utilisation certificates. It also directed the state to submit with the report verified copies of the utilisation certificates.