The high court on Wednesday refused to stay the construction of boundary walls around the Pous Mela grounds on the Visva-Bharati campus in Santiniketan.

The state government had on Tuesday prayed for a stay on the construction, citing a possible law-and-order situation.

But the division bench headed by Chief Justice T.B.N. Radhakrishnan said on Wednesday: “Construction work will continue.”

The division bench of the Chief Justice and Justice Shampa Sarkar, however, said if the government or anyone else had any objection to the construction of the wall, they would have to approach the four-member committee the high court had formed to monitor the matter.

The state government is still to decide on the future course of action.

Visva-Bharati authorities had to stop the construction of the wall after protesters resorted to vandalism on the fairground on August 17.

The high court set up a four-member committee on September 18 to find a solution with all stakeholders.

Led by Justice Sanjib Banerjee, the other committee members are Justice Arijit Banerjee, advocate-general Kishore Datta and additional solicitor general Y.J. Dastoor.

The bench had appointed advocate Jaydeep Kar amicus curiae to the case. Kar will assist the bench in the matter.

Work to build the contentious wall resumed on Monday following a decision at a meeting on Sunday that was attended by members of the committee and officials of the university and the district administration.

While appearing for the state on Tuesday, advocate-general Datta requested the court to allow him to quit the committee. The division bench on Wednesday allowed Datta to do so but said the district magistrate of Birbhum could join the committee.