Calcutta High Court on Monday asked the Bengal government to file an affidavit on a CAG report on the disbursal of Durga Puja doles to clubs and NGOs and the utilisation of the money by these organisations.

The report has to be filed after the Pujas, the court said.

The court was hearing a PIL challenging the legality of the government's largesse and praying for a stop on the disbursal.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Justice T. S. Sivagnanam and Justice Bibhas Patnayak did not interfere with the government scheme but made some observations.

Chief Justice Sivagnanam told advocate-general Kishore Datta, representing the government, that the state should consider giving ₹10 lakh to each organiser as that would be commensurate with the scale of Pujas. "Your government may pay ₹10 lakh dole to each Puja Committee instead of ₹85,000," the Chief Justice told Datta.

The Mamata Banerjee government has allocated over ₹350 crore to give ₹85,000 to each of around 43,000 clubs across Bengal. The amount was raised from ₹75,000 last year.

The government maintains that these grants help promote the state's welfare schemes during the festivities.

The chief justice said he had visited several Puja pandals in the past two years and felt that ₹85,000 was nothing compared to the expenditure incurred in organising Puja. "The dole amount is probably utilised for the expenses of the organisers," he remarked.

Some of those who heard him speak said his comments were laced with sarcasm.

The court added that the government gave a paltry ₹1,000 to a person suffering from disability owing to muscular dystrophy and that an appeal had been filed seeking a raise in that allocation.

The chief justice said there were other pressing issues like the struggle by contractual workers. The PWD contractual workers deployed in the high court were not being paid due wages, the court said.

"... government has stopped recruiting permanent staff in various departments...due to an alleged funds crunch. But it has money to give Puja doles," he said.

The chief justice said some court employees had handed over a memorandum of demand to the chief minister when she attended his oath-taking ceremony. "Their demands have not been fulfilled yet," he said.

The PIL has been filed by Saurav Datta, an advocate and a member of an organisation opposed to festive doles.

Nandini Mitra, the lawyer who appeared for the petitioner, said in September 2022 a division bench of the high court issued an order asking the state for the CAG report. "The order has not been followed yet," she alleged.