Latest news with #KausikChanda
Time of India
23-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Eden Gardens isn't public place, CAB not liable to pay ad tax to KMC: HC
1 2 Kolkata: Eden Gardens cannot be considered a public place, Calcutta High Court has ruled, upholding a single judge's order that Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) is not liable to pay advertisement tax of over Rs 51 lakh to Kolkata Municipal Corporation for advertisements put up inside the stadium during the 1996 World Cup. "It is not the dimension of a place or the number of people that visit a particular place that would determine the nature of a place as 'private or public'. The only criterion must be whether or not members of public have an unrestricted right of access to that place. Applying this test, Eden Gardens Stadium cannot be held to be a public place," a division bench of justices Arijit Banerjee and Kausik Chanda held in the June 19 order. Dwelling on what constitutes a public place — KMC Act does not have a definition for it — the bench clarified that it meant any place that was open to people. "Any member of the public must have access to that place without any restriction. Nobody's permission should be required for visiting such a place… For example, the Maidan in Kolkata is undisputedly a public place. The riverside is also a public place. Any member of the public has absolute, unconditional, and unrestricted access to such places at any time," the bench explained. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Dermatologist: Just Add 1 Drop Of This Household Item To Any Dark Spot And Wait 3 Minutes Undo Eden Gardens had hosted the 1996 World Cup inaugural match and a semi-final on Feb 11 and March 13. KMC had issued a demand note to CAB for Rs 51,18,450 as tax on ads put up inside and outside the stadium. CAB moved HC and won the case in 2015, but KMC challenged the single judge order. The division bench, however, was not keen on interfering with the single-bench order. It was not happy with the two days' notice given to CAB to reply to the demand note and reprimanded KMC for initiating criminal proceedings without giving CAB a hearing. The bench also noted that the notice sent by KMC did not have a bill breakdown. It also considered Article 285 of the Constitution that exempts Union property from state taxation — CAB enjoys a lease of the Eden Gardens ground, which is owned by the defence ministry. The division bench held, "CAB is the lessee of the property where the stadium is situated… Take, for example, that a rich person owns a private stadium which can accommodate 200,000 people. He organises sports activities in the stadium and sells tickets which interested spectators can purchase for watching the activities inside the stadium. On a particular day, games are played before a packed stadium. Hoardings are put up by brand owners inside the stadium which are visible only to people who are inside the stadium. Would KMC be entitled to impose advertisement tax in respect of the same? We think not. Although 200,000 spectators may be viewing the advertisements, the private stadium is not a public place. The owner of the stadium will be entitled to deny entry to an interested person even if he offers to pay for a ticket."
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Two-week breather for Jayanth house
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered an interim stay on the proposed demolition of an illegal four-storey building owned by Kamarhati Trinamool leader Jayanth Singh on Pratap Rudra Lane of Ariadaha. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Justice Kausik Chanda stayed the proposed demolition for two weeks until the matter came up before the regular bench of Justice Gaurang Kanth on June 23. Justice Kanth earlier ordered the demolition of the illegal building and chastised the Kamarhati Municipality for not taking action. Kamarhati Municipality served notice to Singh. Meanwhile, Prasant Singh, claiming to be a resident of the building, moved the division bench of Justice Rajasekhar Mantha and Justice Ajay Kumar Gupta on June 10. He submitted that the municipality didn't serve notice to him when West Bengal Municipal Act provides for prior notice and an opportunity for the owner or the person responsible to be heard before issuing a demolition order. Justice Chanda on Thursday held the regular bench would hear the main matter, and stayed the proposed razing.
Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Stick to pre-2010 7% quota on OBC students: Court
Kolkata: The Calcutta high court on Thursday directed the West Bengal University of Health Sciences (WBUHS) —Kolkata-based government medical university— to enrol students by providing 7% reservation to 66 other backward classes (OBCs) communities notified in the state before 2010. A single bench of justice Kausik Chanda in its order noted that a division bench of the high court in May last year had struck down the state's reservation policy, which categorised OBCs into A and B categories and introduced 10% and 7% reservation, respectively. 'The state is mandated to apply the OBC reservations only for the 66 classes that have been included in the list of backward classes notified by the backward class department of the state prior to 2009. The extent of OBC reservations in the state should be 7%, in terms of notification dated November 6, 1997,' justice Chanda said in the order, seen by HT. 'The caste certificates issued for 66 classes before 2010 have not been interfered with and 7% reservation for them has been maintained,' the order added. A division bench of the high court on May 22, 2024 cancelled the OBC status awarded to 77 Muslim communities by the state since 2010, prompting the government to suspend quota-based recruitments and admissions. The TMC government challenged the high court order in the Supreme Court. Before the May last year order, West Bengal provided 17% OBC reservation in public sector jobs and state-run educational institutions. It was divided into two brackets — OBC-A, entitled to 10% reservation and comprising 81 communities, of which 56 were Muslims; and OBC-B, which provided for 7% reservation and included 99 communities, of which 41 were Muslims. 'It is apparent that the division bench has struck down the categorisation of OBC-A and OBC-B. The division bench has also struck down the reservation policy of the state, which introduced 10% reservation for OBC-A category and 7% reservation for OBC-B,' the court noted in its order on Thursday. The court was hearing a petition filed by PG medical course aspirants for 2024-25. The petition said that the merit list for admission was published in November 2024 but the authorities did not complete admission process, citing the state's special leave petition (SLP) pending before the Supreme Court. 'I find no justification in the stance of the respondents. From the orders passed by the Supreme Court in the aforesaid special leave petition, it is absolutely clear that the Supreme Court did not grant any stay order against the division bench order, although the prayer for a stay order was specifically considered by the Supreme Court on a number of occasions,' justice Chanda said in the order. The judge also noted that on March 18, 2025, the state government submitted before the apex court that the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes was 'undertaking an exercise of examining the issue of backward classes afresh, which is likely to take a further three months' time.' West Bengal University of Health Sciences officials did not respond to HT's request for a comment on the high court's order. TMC leaders also declined to comment, saying they were yet to get a legal opinion on the order. The Opposition BJP targeted the Mamata Banerjee-led government, with leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari criticising the state government for failing to implement the OBC reservation order issued by the division bench of the high court a year ago. 'The state government getting under the scanner is now a routine affair,' Adhikari said in a post on X, adding the plea of the state regarding the issue pending before the Supreme Court has been thwarted. '…Bad days ahead for the corrupt, pseudo-secular state government.'
