Patna HC rejects BJP plea on S K Memorial Hall row

Patna: Curtains came down on the row between the JD (U) and BJP over the allotment of S K Memorial Hall for celebrating Karpoori Thakur's birth anniversary on January 24 with the Patna high court on Friday ruling in favour of the JD (U).
Giving verdict on a writ petition filed by the BJP against denial of the hall to it, a single bench presided by Justice Kishore Kumar Mandal observed allotment or reservation of the hall in favour of the petitioner could not be assumed merely because it deposited the charges.
The court also said the petitioner was denied the allotment of hall in mid-December last year. The cause of action, if any, had arisen in December itself, but the writ petition to challenge the denial was filed only recently on January 19.
Petitioner's counsel Binod Kanth argued the BJP deposited a sum of Rs 86,800 towards the rent of the hall and a sum of Rs 20,000 as the security money on November 24 last year for using the hall on January 24. The incharge of the hall committee informed the petitioner on December 15 that the hall couldn't be booked on the said date as it had been already booked.
Kanth alleged another party submitted an application for the allotment of the hall for a similar purpose in February 2015, and deposited a bank draft dated November 1, 2015 towards the rent and security money. The booking was made in their favour.
State counsel Lalit Kishore submitted that merely depositing the rent and security money at the booking counter and getting receipt would not ipso facto amount to allotment or reservation. Allotment letters are issued only on getting the approval of the divisional commissioner, Kanth argued and added this was a normal procedure adopted by the committee which could not be construed as unreasonable or arbitrary.