Today, Dutta took up the issue before the Bench saying that the symbolic book fair had undermined the court’s earlier orders.

Dutta pleaded, “Last year, a Bench headed by Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharya had on January 29 passed an order banning the Kolkata Book Fair on environmental grounds at the Maidan. At least one person present during the symbolic book fair was present during the court’s ruling last year. The action, therefore, undermined the court’s direction.”

He was hinting at Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya. Last year, the mayor, as a counsel for the West Bengal Pollution Control Board, had pleaded in the court for a ban on book fair at Maidan. This year, he was present at the symbolic fair. Dutta contended: “This kind of act undermined the judiciary and judicial system and amounted to non-compliance.”