
The Calcutta High Court sought a reply from DC Headquarters Vineet Goel of the Kolkata police as to why driving licences and tax tokens had not been seized from buses that were illegally parked around the Victoria Memorial during a CPM rally on January 13.
This was in response to a plea moved by environmentalist Subhas Dutta on Tuesday, which stated that among the illegally parked buses, Kolkata police had registered cases against only 267 of them. In response, the police admitted that owners of 48 buses could not be traced, as their driving licences and tax tokens have not been seized.
The Division Bench of Justices Bhaskar Bhattacharya and R N Banerjee directed Goel to file an affidavit stating why the licences and tax tokens were not seized when all the buses were parked in a particular area.
In another development, Dutta submitted before the Division Bench that five open coal ovens were being used on the premises of the SSKM Hospital, violating a High Court order. On September 28, 2007 a division bench had banned the use of open coal ovens within 3 km of the Victoria Memorial 8212; SSKM Hospital falls within that distance. On August 18, the High Court had directed SSKM to stop the use of open coal ovens on their premises by August 30.
On Tuesday, after Dutta8217;s submission, the Division Bench issued showcause notices to the medical superintendent and vice-principal of SSKM, asking why they should not be held guilty of contempt of court. The case will come up for hearing next Tuesday.