Calcutta High Court: In a public interest writ petition (PIL) related alleged misappropriation of funds by the Executive Officer of Kharagpur – II Panchayat Samity, a Division bench of T. S. Sivagnanam, CJ., and Hiranmay Bhattacharyya, J., disposed of the PIL with the direction to the District Magistrate to provide an appropriate reply to the petitioner in response to the petitioner’s representation.
In the instant matter, the Petitioner filed a PIL on behalf of the Panchayat Samity, alleging misappropriation of funds by the Executive Officer of Kharagpur – II Panchayat Samity. The petitioner made a representation dated 12-07-2023, but the same is not disposed of and the petitioner approached the Court by way of this writ petition.
The respondents/State filed a report by the Block Development Officer of Kharagpur – II Development Block, Paschim Medinipur, containing para-wise statements of facts addressing the various allegations mentioned in the writ petition.
The Court observed that, at this stage, it was not appropriate to examine the disputed questions of the case. Instead, the Court directed the District Magistrate, Paschim Medinipur, to provide an appropriate reply to the petitioner in response to the representation.
The Court further granted the petitioner the freedom to pursue remedies available under the law upon receiving this reply and disposed of the writ petition.
[Binoy Krishna Raj v. State of W.B., W.P.A. (P) 402 of 2023, order dated 07-08-2023]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr. Soumen Bhattacharya Mr. G. F. Hossain Ms. Varsha Roy Ms. Priyanka Mondal, Counsel for the Petitioner;
Mr. T. M. Siddiqui Mr. Tanoy Chakraborty, Counsel for the Respondent/State.
