SC declines Mamata Banerjee’s plea to operate 4 frozen TMC bank accounts
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to entertain a plea by the Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) challenging the freezing of four Indian Bank accounts by the West Bengal Police. The bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale said the matter was pending before the Calcutta High Court and refused to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution.
The court refrained from examining the merits and asked the High Court to expedite the proceedings. It noted that the Election Commission had frozen the TMC’s party symbol in an interim order, leaving the larger question of which faction is entitled to the funds in the accounts pending.
The four accounts, holding around Rs 804 crore, were debit-frozen following a criminal investigation based on a complaint by TMC MLA Biswanath Das. The party had challenged the action before the Calcutta High Court, which on August 27 declined interim relief.
The case is separate from the freezing of three HDFC Bank accounts by the Enforcement Directorate. On August 11, the Supreme Court had declined to interfere with a High Court arrangement allowing the TMC to use those accounts for day-to-day expenses under the supervision of a court-appointed Special Officer.
The Supreme Court had earlier directed the Election Commission to resolve the dispute over the TMC’s name and symbol within a stipulated period. The party has faced internal divisions since losing the West Bengal Assembly election to the BJP in May. Around 60 of its 80 MLAs rebelled, with the rival group choosing Ritabrata Banerjee as Opposition leader and Roy as its chairperson.
At the national level, 20 of the TMC’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs announced a merger with the Tripura-based Nationalist Citizens Party of India and supported the BJP-led NDA. The Lok Sabha Speaker allowed them to sit separately, though the group was yet to be recognised under the new party. Four TMC Rajya Sabha MPs have also resigned since June, with three joining the BJP and being re-elected. The TMC’s Rajya Sabha strength consequently fell from 13 to nine.