New Delhi: In a setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bombay High Court on Thursday allowed Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to organise Chhath Puja on Acharya Atre ground in Ghatkopar area in Mumbai.
This comes after the NCP was denied permission by the BMC to hold puja at Ghatkopar park after which the party had decided to move High Court and claimed that it had prior permission for Ganpati, Chhath, and Navratri.
It is to be noted that NCP leader Rakhi Jadhav had organised a party sponsored Chhath Puja at Acharya Atre Maidan. However, BMC had denied permission to the NCP and had granted approval to another charitable organisation Ataj Samajik Sanskruti Seva Pratisthan, which allegedly supports the BJP.
Following this, NCP working president Rakhi Jadhav had approached the HC which on Thursday allowed the party to perform Chhath Puja on the Ghatkopar ground.
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Notably, the petitioner had approached the court seeking stay on the permission granted to the other organisation. However, the division bench headed by Justice RD Dhanuka had refused to grant immediate stay but gave liberty to the petitioners to approach the vacation bench for relief.
Earlier on July 25, Durga Parmeshwari Seva Mandal, which is led by NCP leader Jadhav, had sought permission to construct an artificial pond for various events, including Chhath puja at the Acharya ground. The local BMC ward had granted permission the next month.
According to reports, Jadhav claimed that the Mandal failed to get the No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the local police for the Puja, as by the time she received the draft for the NOC from the BMC, they had given the NOC to the other organisation.
(With inputs from Mrityunjay Singh)