Bengal Guv directs SEC to update Calcutta HC on 7,500 complaints received by 'peace room'

Kolkata, July 13 West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Thursday gave strict instructions to the State Election Commission (SEC) to update the Calcutta High Court on the 7,500 complaints received at the 'Peace Room'.

The room was opened within the Raj Bhavan premises for the purpose of enabling people to directly report to the Governor's House about the incidents of violence during the panchayat polls in the state.

Sources from the Governor's House said that going by the protocol each and every complaint of violence and clashes received at the 'Peace Room' had been forwarded to the office of the state election commission and now the Raj Bhavan authorities want these complaints to be recorded at the Calcutta High Court.

A crucial hearing on the panchayat poll violence is scheduled to be heard at the divisionbench of Calcutta High Court's Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam.

Sources said that the complaints received at the 'Peace Room' were also recorded during the course of hearing.

On Wednesday, Justice Sivagnanam observed that the fate of the candidates declared elected in the three-tier of panchayat system will to a great extent depend on the outcome of the petitions and also expressed displeasure over the commission's report on the action taken to control the widespread violence in the recently-held panchayat polls in the state.

Raj Bhavan sources said that the Governor's opinion is that the one major reason why the Calcutta High Court felt that the commission's report on violence was incomplete was because the 7,500 complaints received at the 'Peace Rom' were not incorporated in the report. "So, the Governor now wants those complaints to be attached during the near hearing on July 17," a Governor's House source said.

On Wednesday, the division bench of the Calcutta High Court also observed that it willlook into charges against the Commission of extending non-cooperation in effective deployment and utilisation of the central armed forces personnel.

"If the state cannot provide protection to the people of the state, the court will take up the matter seriously. The commission should file an affidavit on this count. The court is monitoring everything," Justice Sivagnanam observed on Wednesday.