Calcutta HC Reprieve for Lalgarh Schools
The Calcutta High Court has given the West Bengal government until December 31 to evict joint forces from 22 schools in the Lalgarh region where they have been squatting for nearly six months now.
Paramilitary troops have occupied the schools since they arrived in the area as part of a thrust against the Maoists in June.
Disallowing the state government request for a three-month time to shift the forces, a Division Bench of acting Chief Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya and Justice Prasenjit Mondal said schools could not be used for other purposes.
After hearing a petition filed by West Midnapore Bhumijya Kalyan Samity, a social organisation, the Division Bench also directed the state to resume the midday meal schemes in those schools, which were vacated recently.
The arrears for electricity bills of those schools for accommodating the security forces would be borne by the state government, the Bench said.
(Based on Media Reports)
