A division bench of Calcutta High Court has ordered the Bengal administration to discuss with BJP representatives a proposed rathyatra, describing as “astonishing” the refusal by senior officials to hear out the party.

The bench asked the chief secretary, home secretary and the director-general of police to discuss by Wednesday all aspects related to the rathyatra and convey their decision by next Friday.

The division bench order essentially modifies Thursday’s directive by a single-judge bench that had withheld permission for the BJP’s proposed “save democracy” rathyatra on the basis of a state police report that said the programme might stoke communal trouble.

The division bench did not stay the entire interim order issued on Thursday by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty,

The proposed yatra was scheduled to be flagged off on Friday from Cooch Behar by BJP national president Amit Shah.

The division bench of Justices Biswanath Somadder and Arindam Mukherjee came down heavily on the state administration for not sparing the time to discuss the rally’s details with the BJP despite several representations since October 29. “But the senior officials did not find time to hear them. It is astonishing,” the court said. (See chart)

The bench wondered why the organisers of the programme were made to wait till the last moment for a reply from the district police, who formally declined permission for the rathyatra on December 5. District BJP leaders had been in touch with the police for over a month.

The BJP termed the order a “victory”. The court’s observations assume significance against the backdrop of allegations by Opposition parties that the Mamata Banerjee government has been “throttling democracy” by not giving any space to other political parties.

The state government, which has been opposing the rathyatra, is yet to decide whether to challenge the division bench order in the Supreme Court.

“We will think about it as we have time till Monday,” said a state government lawyer.

Since the division bench did not stay the entire interim order by Justice Chakraborty, the original case will be pending for disposal by the same judge. “In case the BJP is not satisfied with the decision taken by the senior state government officials, they will have to approach the trial court,” explained a senior advocate.

The Telegraph