Policemen inspect the Santosh Mitra Square pandal, which towers well above the 40ft limit set by the court. A Telegraph picture

Police will blame their failure to enforce pandal norms on paucity of time in their action taken report to be submitted to the high court on Tuesday.

According to sources, the cops will state that they could not make all puja organisers keep four feet free around their pandals since most of the structures were ready before the court passed the order.

Highlighting the problems in executing the order, the police will claim that the order will be strictly implemented from 2010 with the puja committees being briefed about the rules in advance, said a source.

“We have stated our views about the court order very clearly in the Action Taken Report, which we will hand over to advocate-general Balai Ray on Tuesday. It would be improper to comment on the contents. Let the advocate-general read it first,” police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti told Metro.

A survey by the 48 police stations in the city, added Chakrabarti, revealed that over 60 per cent of the 1,125 pandals had violated the order.

On Tuesday, the fire services department officials said they had slapped notices on 156 puja committees for violating the court order.

While cops found most organisers had flouted the order to keep four feet free around the pandals, fire services personnel said many had used inflammable materials in the structures.

“The rain affected our survey on Monday but we’ll visit pandals again on Tuesday. The problem with rain is that even in pandals where fire-retardant solutions have been used, the water will wash the chemicals away,” said D.P. Biswas, the additional director-general of fire services.

State chief secretary Ashok Mohan Chakrabarti on Monday said puja organisers who did not abide by the norms this year would face problems in securing permission for holding the puja next year.

“Every puja organiser must follow the order. If they don’t, their permission might be cancelled. They may even be charged with contempt of court,” he said.