The Supreme Court has declined to hear a plea by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress challenging the freezing of four bank accounts. The court noted that the matter is still pending before the Calcutta High Court.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court declined to hear a plea filed by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress challenging the freezing of four Indian Bank accounts. A bench noted that the matter is still pending before the Calcutta High Court and declined to exercise its powers under Article 136 of the Constitution, which allows the Supreme Court to hear appeals against judgements of courts and tribunals. The court said it would not go into the merits of the case, noting that the Election Commission had frozen the party’s symbol in an interim order. It also noted that the larger question about which TMC faction would be entitled to use the money lying in the accounts is still pending.
On August 11, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with the High Court’s interim arrangement permitting the TMC to operate those accounts for its day-to-day expenses. In the present case involving the four Indian Bank accounts, the High Court had denied relief to the TMC, after which it appealed against the order in the Supreme Court.
The accounts were debit-frozen following a criminal investigation initiated by the West Bengal Police over a complaint filed by MLA Biswanath Das. The case is separate from the matter involving three HDFC bank accounts of the party that were frozen by the Enforcement Directorate.
The TMC has been beset by internal divisions and rebellions after it lost the Assembly elections to the Bharatiya Janata Party in May. Nearly 60 out of the TMC’s 80 MLAs have rebelled against the party leadership to choose Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
Source:
Scroll.in
