Union Of India Secretary vs. The State Of West Bengal Chief Secretary

ITEM NO.4 COURT NO.1 SECTION XVI

S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (C) No(s).28575/2017

(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 17-10-2017 in CAN No.9837/2017 in WP No.15306/2017 passed by the High Court At Calcutta)

UNION OF INDIA Petitioner(s)

VERSUS

STATE OF WEST BENGAL & ORS. Respondent(s)

Date : 21-02-2018 This petition was called on for hearing today.

CORAM :

HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE A.M. KHANWILKAR HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD

• For Petitioner(s) Mr. K.K. Venugopal, AG Mr. R. Balasubramaniam, Adv. Mr. S. Wasim A Qadri, Adv. Ms. Pooja Dhar, Adv. Mr. Prabhas Bajaj, Adv. Ms. Aarti Sharma, Adv. for Mr. B. V. Balaram Das, Adv. [AOR] For Respondent(s) Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, Sr. Adv. Mr. Kalyan Bandopadhyay, Sr. Adv. Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, Adv. [AOR] Mr. Raja Chatterjee, Adv. Ms. Runa Bhuyan, Adv. Mr. Piyush Sachar, Adv.
  • Mr. Adeel Ahmed, Adv.

UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R

Leave granted.

The appeal stands disposed of in terms of the signed order. There shall be no order as to costs.

Digitally signed by SUBHASH CHANDER Date: 2018.02.23 14:20:27 IST Reason:

Signature Not Verified

(Subhash Chander) (H.S. Parasher) AR-cum-PS Assistant Registrar

[Signed Order is placed on the file]

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO.2390 OF 2018 [Arising out of S.L.P.(C)No.28575 of 2017]

Union of India ....Appellant

Versus

State of West Bengal & Ors. ....Respondents

O R D E R

Leave granted.

The present appeal, by special leave, assails the direction issued by the High Court which reads as follows :

"In the facts of the present case, therefore it would be appropriate to permit the parties to the litigation to file their respective affidavits. In the meantime however, considering the gravity of the situation and the averments made in the application particularly in paragraph 13 thereof, it would be appropriate to stay the impugned writing dated October 15, 2017 until October 27, 2017 or until further order whichever is earlier. It is clarified that the Central Government will continue to keep all fifteen companies of Central Armed Police Forces deployed in the two districts of the State of West Bengal till October 27, 2017 or until further orders in the same manner as it had done prior to the issuance of the impugned writing dated October 15, 2017."

Though the order was interim in nature, the Union of India has preferred this appeal by special leave.

When the matter was listed on 27.10.2017, while issuing notice

this Court has passed the following order :

"As Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi and Mr. Kalyan Bandopadhyay, learned senior counsel along with Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, learned counsel have entered appearance on behalf of the State, no further notice need be issued.

Counter affidavit be filed within a week hence. Rejoinder affidavit, if any, be filed within a week therefrom.

Having heard Mr. Maninder Singh, learned Additional Solicitor General appearing for the Union of India and Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, learned senior counsel for the State, we suggested to Mr. Singh that as an interim measure, eight companies can be retained in the Districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong and seven companies may be withdrawn for election or other duties elsewhere and it is so ordered. This is an interim arrangement, subject to final adjudication by this Court.

As we are dealing with the matter holistically, the High Court of Judicature at Calcutta shall not proceed in W.P.No.15306 [W] of 2017."

After the said date, the matter has been taken up on certain dates and the withdrawal of a few more companies of armed forces has been allowed.

In the course of hearing, it is submitted by Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi, learned senior counsel that the forces may be continued to be deployed in the State of West Bengal for a further period of four weeks. The learned Attorney General, however, submitted that it can be for a maximum period of further two weeks.

Having heard Mr. Venugopal, learned Attorney General for India and Mr. Rakesh Dwivedi and Mr. Kalyan Bandopadhyay, learned senior counsel along with Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, learned counsel appearing for the State of West Bengal, we are only inclined to permit retention of the remaining companies of the armed forces till 08th of March 2018. Be it noted, no further extension shall be granted.

As the impugned interim order has been passed by the High Court without adverting to any law, the same is set aside. The writ petition pending before the High Court shall be deemed to have

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been disposed of.

The appeal stands disposed of accordingly. There shall be no order as to costs.

........................CJI. [DIPAK MISRA]

..........................J. [A.M. KHANWILKAR]

..........................J. [Dr. D.Y. CHANDRACHUD]

New Delhi. February 21, 2018.