Stephen Court fire: HC refuses to enter

The Calcutta High Court has refused to enter the tussle between a flat owner in Stephen Court and Kolkata Municipal Corporation as well as the state government on collecting articles from the gutted portion of the building.

The Calcutta High Court has refused to enter the tussle between a flat owner in Stephen Court and Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) as well as the state government on collecting articles from the gutted portion of the building. After hearing a petition filed by Mahendra Golcha today,Justice Gisrish Chandra Gupta asked the KMC and the counsel of the state government to sort out the dispute.

A flat owner,Golcha filed a petition last week alleging the KMC and police had not allowed him to enter his flat to collect his belongings. He had lodged a complaint with the Shakespeare Sarani police station on March 31 alleging that valuable articles,silver and jewellery were stolen from his flat,which was severely damaged due to the fire. His mother Saiyari Devi Golcha died in the incident.

Golchas counsel,advocate Shakti Nath Mukherjee,moved a plea that the high court should direct the KMC to allow Golcha to collect articles such as the wardrobe from his flat.

Opposing the plea,advocate Suman Ghosh,counsel of the state government,said Golcha,along with two others,had entered his flat on March 26 and 28 and they collected articles after breaking the wardrobe. Ghosh presented a few photographs of Golcha,which showed him coming out of the flat with a sack.

Advocate Aloke Ghosh,counsel of KMC,pleaded that Golcha entered his flat on the court order. On March 26,the Calcutta High Court had directed that any family could approach the KMC to enter their flats to take out their belongings. The families would have to submit two names with photographs to the KMC to do so.

Ghosh argued that several parts of Stephen Court became risky because of the fire. Therefore,nobody could be allowed to enter their flat for taking out the wardrobe or other heavy pieces from the damaged portion.

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