The green lobby is taking a walk down street legal to try and thwart Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s bid to keep the Book Fair on the Maidan.

The tools of opposition: highlighting the government’s doublespeak and questioning its locus standi to move court on behalf of a private body.

“We can’t understand why the organisers of Calcutta Book Fair are silent, while the chief minister has come forward to fight their cause. It appears that personal emotions of our chief minister have superseded his constitutional status and jurisdiction,” environment activist Subhas Dutta said on Tuesday.

Besides highlighting the damage to the Maidan if used for fairs, the green lobby — in consultation with legal eagles — is flashing the Calcutta High Court ruling allowing one last Book Fair in 2006 to oppose the government’s latest move on the Maidan.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said the government will move court to seek permission for holding yet another Book Fair on the Maidan. He is also keen to set up a permanent structure to host the fair on the precious patch of green.

The Telegraph reported on Tuesday how the Maidan still bears the scars of the last Book Fair, precisely why the high court had asked every fair to be shifted out.

“The court had passed the judgment to protect Victoria Memorial and to save the city’s lungs,” said Dutta, adding that a profit-making proposition like the Book Fair should not be allowed in the blue zone of the Maidan.

Legal experts also pointed out the problems awaiting the government if it did take a U-turn on fairs on the Maidan.

“Since the state government had filed an affidavit last year (that no more fairs would be held on the Maidan, post-Book Fair 2006) and the court took a decision on its basis, it must be honoured,” said Supradip Roy, a senior advocate of Calcutta High Court.

The green lobby has also demanded a detailed “environment impact assessment”, with central experts, on the Maidan and its melas.