Kolkata:
A year and a half after Mamata Banerjee's government ordered the removal of most English-language newspapers from all state run libraries, the Calcutta High Court has undone the decision.
The court today ruled that the most-circulated newspapers in West Bengal, which include The Telegraph and Anand Bazar Patrika, must be made available for readers.
In March, the government had banned all English dailies and several other vernacular ones from more than 2000 libraries that the state funds. Eight Bengali newspapers were cleared, most of them seen as loyal to Ms Banerjee and her party, the Trinamool Congress.
Later, one English newspaper was added to the list of permitted newspapers.
One of the Bengali dailies, Sakalbela, was in fact run by the now defunct Saradha chit fund group. Sakalbela has now closed down.
In recent weeks, Ms Banerjee and her government have been pulled up on different fronts by the Calcutta High Court. (Read:
Recent clashes between Mamata's government and the courts)
Today, the court ruled that it will monitor the investigation into the gang-rape and murder of a college student. The High Court bench also took exception to the delay in filing the chargesheet, despite Ms Banerjee's promise that it would be done within 15 days. The court did not, however, name Ms Banerjee.
Last week, as the court was hearing the panchayat poll case between the State Election Commission and lawyers of the Mamata government, the chief justice had to break up an argument between angry rival lawyers with an emphatic "enough is enough".
Then, in a setback, the Supreme Court said no to the Mamata government and a minority body that wanted poll dates changed for the panchayat elections in the state.