KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation challenging the Calcutta University's decision to confer D.Litt on Mamata Banerjee. A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice J Bhattacharya and Justice A Banerjee dismissed the PIL and observed that no public interest was harmed because of the decision. The bench also noted that necessary parties had not been added in the petition.
The petitioner has alleged that members of the university's senate had erred in its decision, but none of them were made a party in the plea, the bench said. State Advocate General Kishore Datta, during hearings of the case, had questioned the maintainability of the petition, claiming that it was politically motivated and aimed at garnering media attention. Counel of Calcutta University Saktinath Mujherjee, meanwhile, stated the petition was not justifiable and should be rejected forthwith as the university senate's decision to grant the degree to Banerjee did not cause any injury to public interest. He claimed that the CU senate was the final authority in deciding who would be an awardee and that anybody else, especially an outsider, has no authority to challenge the decision.
