HC directs East Bengal to complete elections by Feb 15

The Calcutta High Court directed East Bengal Club to complete election of office bearers by February 15.

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court today directed East Bengal Club to complete election of office

bearers by February 15, while endorsing the appointment of retired Army chief General Shankar Roy Chowdhury as special officer to conduct the polls. A division bench comprising Justice Bhaskar Bhattacharjee and Justice Sambuddha Chakraborti, while rejecting the appeal by the club authorities and upholding the order of a single bench of the court, directed that the voters list be scrutinised. It also directed General Roy Chowdhury to ensure free and fair polls by voters, who number more than 8,000. The club filed the appeal against the December 1 order of Justice Sanjib Banerjee who appointed retired Gen Shankar Roy Chowdhury as special officer to conduct the elections. The elections, which were earlier scheduled to be held on December 5, had been put off by Justice Banerjee after a section of members moved a petition claiming malpractices by the present committee in holding the polls. Paltu Mukherjee and 11 other members of the club moved the petition alleging omissions and commissions in the electoral rolls and prayed for appointment of an independent officer to conduct the elections in a free and fair manner. PTI