Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Friday directed the
Jhargram DM to take a decision in 24 hours on postponing the Jangalmahal Utsav set to begin from Monday.
A division bench of Chief Justice
Prakash Shrivastava and Justice
Rajarshi Bharadwaj passed the order after hearing out a
PIL. “The DM’s order (asking for shutdown of markets, gove-rnment and private offices) clearly reveals that the Covid situation in Jhargram is very serious.
Hence we are of the opinion that it may not be in public interest to hold the mela from January 17,” the bench observed.
State counsel Samrat
Sen submitted that the fair was being held for eight years and this year the Jhargram administration had planned to hold the mela in a decentralized manner spread over several spots.
The bench, while taking note of the state’s submission, pointed out in the order on Friday that there was no past practice of holding the fair on a particular date or in reference to any lunar or solar position.