Calcutta High Court criticizes Dinhata Municipality's fees

The Calcutta High Court has expressed anger towards the Dinhata Municipality in Cooch Behar. The court is questioning the municipality's decision to charge Rs 40,000 as a "development fund" from people applying for housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY). The court discovered that the municipality removed 187 applicants from the PMAY list because they did not pay this fee. This included a person from the Scheduled Caste community. A division bench, led by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Chaitali Chatterjee (Das), has asked the municipality to explain why it should not face legal action. The court noted a report from the Auditor General’s office. This report, dated November 2022, showed that the municipality had collected about Rs 4.39 crore since 2015-16 for the "development fund." The court has given the municipality three weeks to file an affidavit explaining its actions.