A forum of Durga Puja organisers moved a writ petition before a high court division bench headed by Justice Sanjib Banerjee on Tuesday seeking modifications to its Monday order banning entry of visitors into pandals and in their immediate surroundings.

Three other clubs — Samajsebi on Lake Road, Hindusthan Club on Hindustan Road and Suruchi Sangha in New Alipore — have also filed similar petitions before the court.

“The order passed by this court yesterday has put our clubs in a lot of problem, Since the court passed the order without hearing the clubs, we want some modifications to it,” senior counsel and Trinamul Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee submitted in the court while moving the petition for the forum.

Justice Banerjee said the bench would hear the clubs on Wednesday along with the petitions moved by the three puja committees.

Lawyer Banerjee refused to say what modifications they want. “Since we have not yet told the court about the modifications, it would not be wise for me to make it public,” he said.

According to Monday’s order, areas within 10 metres of a big pandal and 5 metres of a small pandal will be barricaded as “no-entry zones”. The idol can be viewed from 10 metres “beyond the furthest extremities of the pandal” on any side at big pujas, and from 5 metres at smaller pujas.

Depending on the scale of the puja, only 15 to 25 organisers, including the priests and dhak players, will be allowed within the no-entry zone. And that list has to be the same on all puja days.

Puja organisers have complained about several aspects of the order, including how they will put up a barricade at 10 metres from the pandal without blocking roads and how they will choose 25 persons who will be allowed inside the pandals.

The court wanted to decongest pandals and felt prohibiting entry into pandals would discourage many revellers from stepping out amid the Covid pandemic.

“The virus refuses to go away…. In such a situation, it may be judicious to err on the side of prevention than to allow the festivities to go on without any checks and repent later that adequate resources may not be available to provide for the massive cure that may become necessary,” the division bench of Justices Sanjib Banerjee and Arijit Banerjee had said in its order.

Monday’s order came on a PIL filed by advocate Saurav Chatterjee. The petitioner expressed the fear that festivities might lead to a spurt in Covid cases.

Counsel Banerjee said on Tuesday: “The clubs were parties to the case on which the court issued the order. So I prayed to the court on behalf of the clubs to give my clients the opportunity to submit their views.”

An organiser of a central Calcutta puja said they wanted at least the people of the neighbourhood to be allowed inside the pandal. “The committee has more than 100 members. How can we say no to members?” he said.