NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday refused to stay the decision of the West Bengal government to grant 28 crore rupees Durga puja committees across the state. The court, however, refused to interfere with the decision, saying the amount must be distributed only through the state police.
A bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta, however, issued notice to the state government and sought its reply within six weeks. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state government, said the money has not been directly paid to puja committees and has been given through the state police.
The top court was hearing a petition filed by advocate Sourav Dutta, challenging the Mamata Banerjee government’s decision that Rs 10,000 would be given to each of the 28,000 puja committees across the state –3,000 in the city and 25,000 in the districts, which would cost the government Rs 28 crore.
