Calcutta, April 18: The summer of disquiet froze briefly today and the courtroom time-travelled to the campus of the 1950s at Presidency College.

The place: Calcutta High Court.

The case: The state election commission versus the Bengal government.

The issue: Whether the situation in Bengal warrants the use of central forces for the panchayat polls.

Barrister Samaraditya Pal, representing the poll panel, said: “I was a student, Mr Mitra was my senior. The advocate-general was our junior, though he doesn’t look it at all…. Such incidents were unthinkable.”

Pal was referring to what happened at his alma mater, now Presidency University, on April 10 when a group of alleged Trinamul Congress activists ran amok on the campus.

The “Mr Mitra” he mentioned is barrister Jayanta Mitra who is representing the state government and opposing Pal in the case. Pal and Mitra, along with advocate-general Bimal Chatterjee, completed a pleasant picture of a Presidencial triumvirate in the court during the 215-minute hearing today.

Although concurrence with Pal could be construed as an acknowledgement that things are no longer so peaceful — a conclusion that will strengthen the poll panel’s case — the bond among alumni did survive the urge to score brownie points.

The mention of Presidency brought smiles to the faces of Mitra and Chatterjee, who had looked stern till a few minutes earlier when Pal was reeling off instances of violence on other campuses.

When Pal, a member of the alumni association, asked if the Presidency campus in the 1950s was like this, Mitra said: “Not at all.”

Mitra, the vice-president of the alumni association, and Chatterjee, an association member, said there was no campus violence back then.

“There were altercations, at the most. It was clean and healthy. Politics was about a better society. There was respect for each other, irrespective of political views,” Mitra said.

Echoing Mitra, Pal added: “For instance, all three of us used to be anti-Students Federation (the precursor to the SFI). But nobody fought physically then.”

When Justice Biswanath Somadder asked the advocate-general what his political views were as a student at Presidency, Chatterjee said he wasn’t for or against anybody.

“There was something then called the PSU (probably the RSP-backed Progressive Students’ Association). They were very active. But there never was any disruption,” Chatterjee said.

As Pal pointed out that no such outfit existed during his time, the judge said the outfit must have been the advocate-general’s innovation.

“It must have been something Mr Chatterjee started. He must have founded it with his friends,” said Justice Somadder to a round of laughter in the courtroom.

The judge added that the “culture of political violence” should not prevail in educational institutions.

The informal conversation between the judge and the three lawyers was cut short by government prosecutor Ashok Banerjee, who rose to blame the Left Front for politicising campuses.

“In their 35-year rule, they ruined everything. They got teachers involved. That ruined the atmosphere,” said Banerjee, who is not a Presidency alumnus.

As Pal, Mitra and Chatterjee smiled, Banerjee went on to say that he was “aghast” at the comments of Presidency registrar Prabir Dasgupta to the media.

“How can the registrar give a TV interview demanding paramilitary forces for the safety of the campus? This is ridiculous,” said the government prosecutor before he was asked to take his place by the judge.