Kolkata, February 16 The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed the West Bengal government to provide an assurance that CISF personnel, providing security at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, will be relocated from a Chinese language school here by April 30.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel have been staying in 18 rooms of the school for over a year.
A special officer appointed by the court informed Justice Krishna Rao that eight of the total 18 rooms of the school, located in the city's China Town area, had been handed over to the authorities of the educational institution for celebrating the Chinese New Year, which is on February 17.
The authorities of Pei Mei Chinese language school in Kolkata approached the high court seeking that CISF personnel, housed in their property at China Town here, be ordered to vacate the premises to facilitate the resumption of classes.
They had also mentioned that the Chinese New Year was approaching, and the school premises needed to be vacated for this purpose as well.
The lawyer representing the Union of India stated before the court of Justice Krishna Rao that 130 Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, who were staying in the 18 rooms, had vacated the eight and were accommodated in 10 rooms, due to which they were facing difficulties and some were sleeping on the verandah.
He urged the court that after the Chinese New Year festival is over and until the state government makes necessary arrangements, the CISF personnel may be allowed to continue using the eight rooms they had vacated for the New Year festival.
Additional advocate general Amal Kumar Sen, representing the West Bengal government, submitted that the state authorities would take steps to accommodate the CISF personnel in an alternative premises by April 30, and the central force would vacate the premises by that date.
Following the submissions by the lawyers of the parties in the matter, Justice Rao directed the West Bengal government to file an affidavit, stating that necessary steps would be taken to accommodate the CISF personnel in the alternative premises and that they would vacate the school premises by April 30.
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, providing security at R G Kar Medical College and Hospital, have been housed at Pei Mei Chinese School since September 2024, when the space was taken for a period of two months. Monica Liu, whose family runs the private school, had said in January after the petition was filed.
The central force personnel were brought to take over security at the R G Kar Medical College and Hospital on an order of the Supreme Court in the aftermath of the rape and murder of an on-duty postgraduate trainee inside the premises on August 9, 2024.