- (1.) Pursuant to the order of this Court, dated 8.1.2019, the petitioner has submitted a revised schedule of the Rath Yatra/Ganatantra Bachao Yatra/Chetna Yatra to the respondent State Government. This was done as directed by this Court in the course of the same day. There appears to have been exchange of some communications between the parties i.e. the State Government and the petitioner immediately thereafter, eventually culminating in an order dated 14.1.2019 of the OSD and Ex-Officio Joint Secretary, Home and Hill Affairs Department, Government of West Bengal addressed to the General Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party, West Bengal. The said order has been placed before the Court and has been taken on record.
(2.) We have perused the revised programme submitted by the petitioner pursuant to the order of this Court and have also considered the details recorded in the order of the Government, dated 14.1.2019. The Government of West Bengal does not and in fact cannot have any objections in holding of public meetings and rallies and by the order dated 14.1.2019, it had merely requested the petitioner to furnish details and schedules of such meetings and rallies.
(3.) So far as the Rath Yatras are concerned, there appears to be some objections of the State Government. Shorn of details, the Rath Yatras contemplate simultaneous processions from four different parts of the State, covering all the 42 Parliamentary Constituencies in a total period of 20 days. A minimum number of 2000 people is expected to join each of the Rath Yatras proposed. The Rath Yatras naturally would cover the entire length and breadth of the State and would pass through different areas inhabited by different communities. The extent to which the Rath Yatras have been planned, the details of which have been submitted to the Government, has led to certain apprehensions in the mind of the Government as to the possible effect of the Rath Yatras on the law and order situation in the State.;