Overview

• Justices Sujoy Paul and Smita Das De directed the state to file an affidavit detailing which clubs submitted utilisation certificates through 2024 and what action followed for non-compliance.
• The court questioned why payments continued without prior-year accounts and said grants should be stopped for committees that have not filed certificates.
• The matter returns Wednesday after the bench rejected a request to defer the hearing until after the festival.
• Two PILs contest the August 1 hike to Rs 1.10 lakh per committee, with the scheme spanning tens of thousands of pujas and estimated at nearly Rs 500 crore this year.
• Advocate General Kishore Dutta referenced a March 2023 figure of over 500 clubs funded with 36 lacking certificates, with a fuller update promised in the affidavit.