Mamata Banerjee opts out of Justice Ganguly event,Somnath to attend

The original invite said Mamata would be the inaugural speaker. But sources said she declined to attend the programme and the CMO called the WBHRC office,forcing it to junk the around 300 cards it had printed and reprint another 300 without her name.

The new card also omits several other names. It does not mentioned Naparajit Mukherjee,who recently retired as Director General of Police,West Bengal,and joined the WBHRC as a non-judicial member. The original invite said he would deliver the welcome address. Mukherjee refused to comment.

The original card also mentioned Calcutta High Court Chief Justice Arun Mishra as a speaker but the new one only has his designation and says he will deliver a special address.

Ashok Subramanium,a senior official in the CMO,said,“The Chief Minister does not have any human rights programme in her December 10 schedule. There is nothing more to say.” A High Court official said: “If the Chief Justice fails to attend the programme,the acting chief justice will attend.” Mir Dara Sheko,the High Court registrar general,said,“It cannot be said now whether the Chief Justice will attend the programme.”

When pointed out that the invite mentioned the Chief Justice,he said: “That has happened without our knowledge.”The new card maintains the name of former LS Speaker Somanth Chatterjee.

“As long as my name is not withdrawn I do not have hesitation in attending the programme,” he said.