The high court on Monday formed an advisory committee that will work on preserving trams in Calcutta, selecting some of the members whose names were proposed by the state and including a new name proposed by the petitioners.
The division bench of Chief Justice T.S .Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said the committee has to hold its first meeting within two weeks and place the minutes of the meeting before the court.
The court had in June asked the state government to form a committee. The state transport department created a 14-member committee and submitted the names to the court.
At Monday’s hearing, the chief justice said it would be difficult to assemble 14 people. “Can it not be reduced?” he asked.
S.N. Mookherjee, the advocate general appearing for the state, said the names were only proposed by the state and the court could choose from them.
A reduced advisory committee was then formed by the bench from among the names.
It includes state transport department officials; members of the Calcutta Tram Users Association, a group of tram lovers; a green activist; and a member of the state heritage commission. A former director general of the town planning department of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, whose name was proposed by the lawyers for the petitioners, was also included.
A formal order was not uploaded on the high court’s website till late on Monday.
The bench was hearing two petitions filed by the NGO PUBLIC and an advocate o the court.
“The committee shall convene its first meeting within two weeks. The minutes of the meeting must be recorded and placed before the court,” the chief justice said.
Dipendra Nath Chunder, the advocate appearing for PUBLIC, later told Metro that “the bench selected some of the names and dropped some names suggested by the state government”.
During a hearing in May, the bench had asked the state government to stop pouring bitumen over tram tracks and inform the court whether it had any policy for preserving trams.
One of the petitions said the decision to dismantle the tram system was taken “in the most arbitrary and capricious manner”.
