The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, November 10, dismissed a writ petition by the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) seeking an impartial, time-bound enquiry to identify and hold accountable those responsible for demolishing its temporary book stall near Jadavpur 8B Bus Stand in Kolkata during Durga Puja, Bar and Bench reported. Justice Rishad Medora held that since the book stall was erected without the appropriate permission, no fundamental right of the petitioner was infringed.

Source: Bar and Bench

According to the petition, APDR had applied to the authorities for permission to install the stall and, treating the absence of a reply as no impediment, erected it on October 17, 2026. The stall was demolished on October 19, and the organisation said it did not know who had carried out the demolition; its plea alleged that people claiming to be from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, accompanied by a sizeable police contingent, forcibly ransacked and demolished the stall. The court recorded that, as no affidavit had been called for, the allegations in the petition are deemed not to have been admitted by the respondents.

Source: LawChakra

Dismissing the plea, Justice Medora held that the petitioner could not presume that the authorities' silence on its permission application meant there was no impediment to putting up the stall, Live Law reported. The court observed that it did not appear that any fundamental right of the petitioner had been violated for it to approach the court in its writ jurisdiction. The petition, APDR v. State of West Bengal and Others (WPA 31420 of 2026), was dismissed with liberty to the organisation to pursue any other remedies available to it, and with no order as to costs. Advocates Debangana Dey and Bhaskar Roy appeared for APDR.

Source: Live Law

The ruling is the second this Puja season in which the High Court has refused protection over a Jadavpur book stall for want of permission: on October 20, a separate bench dismissed a CPI(M) plea seeking protection against the removal of its long-running temporary bookstall near Jadavpur Coffee House, holding that a party seeking such protection must first establish that it had permission to operate the stall. APDR's allegations about who demolished its stall remain allegations; the court made no finding on them.