Calcutta High Court on Tuesday ordered an inquiry into the filling up of a waterbody in Rajarhat in violation of an order by Justice Pranab Chattopadhyaya of the court.

A division bench of Chief Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice D.P. Sengupta passed the order, following a public interest litigation (PIL) moved by Ratan Lal Ghosh and other residents of Kajial Para, in the Rajarhat police station area.

In the petition, they alleged that Mahadeb Sadhukhan, a lawyer, and a few promoters of the area were filling up a waterbody by violating Justice Chattopadhyaya’s order.

The Kajial Para waterbody belonged to Sudharani Ballav, who had given Sadhukhan her power of attorney. Sadhukhan had passed on the waterbody to the promoters to construct a housing estate.

The petitioners claimed that the promoters had got a nod from the Barasat executive magistrate’s court by producing “forged court” documents. The magistrate had directed the local police to assist them during the landfill.

“They got the nod by producing a forged order of the high court. The builders had showed that Justice Chattopadhyaya had allowed them to proceed with the construction project by filling up the pond. But the court had never passed such an order,” one of the petitioners claimed.

On Tuesday after going through the order passed by Justice Pranab Chattopadhyaya on February 15, 2005, the division bench said that the previous order had dismissed the petition moved by the promoters seeking permission for filling up the waterbody.

The division bench directed the court officers to seal the file and asked the police to initiate a probe.

An interim stay order was also passed on construction of the housing project.

The matter will come up for hearing after four weeks, when the district police will submit the inquiry report.