Calcutta HC orders report on chaos at Messi event

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday sought a report from the West Bengal government on the chaos and vandalism at Salt Lake Stadium during the event of Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi. Hearing three separate public interest litigations, the division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Senhas directed the state government to submit the report to the court by December 22. In one of the three PILs filed in the matter, the petitioner demanded a thorough probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the sale of tickets for the event. In another PIL, a probe by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) into the matter has been demanded.

The PIL has also challenged the formation of a committee headed by a retired justice of the Calcutta High Court to probe the mismanagement at the Messi show. The petition has claimed that the probe committee announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was nothing but eyewash and was intended to protect the principal offenders behind the management. However, as the matters came up for hearing, the state government counsel requested a postponement. The division bench agreed but also directed the state government to file a detailed report on the matter to the court by December 22. The division bench will also hear the matters on the same date.

In one of the three public interest litigations filed in the matter, petitioner and senior advocate Billwadal Bhattacharya demanded a thorough probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the sale of tickets for the event, where different tickets fetched different prices, starting from Rs 3,000 to Rs 12,000.

In another PIL, filed by senior counsel Sabyasachi Chattopadhyay, a probe by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) into the matter has been demanded. Chattopadhyay’s PIL has also challenged the formation of a committee headed by a retired justice of the Calcutta High Court to probe the mismanagement at the Messi show. The petition has claimed that the probe committee announced by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was nothing but eyewash and was intended to protect the principal offenders behind the management.

The said probe committee announced by the Chief Minister immediately after the chaos at the Salt Lake Stadium is headed by Justice (Retd.) Ashim Kumar Ray of the Calcutta High Court. The other two members of the committee are Chief Secretary Manoj Pant and Additional Secretary, Home & Hill Affairs Department, Nandini Chakraborty.