Kolkata, October 5 (Daily Kiran) : The Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, approached the Kolkata High Court on Monday. They are challenging a ruling by a special officer appointed by the court, which has denied them access to operate three party bank accounts.
In their petition presented before Justice Sougata Bhattacharya, the TMC faction accused Special Judge Subrata Talukdar of obstructing fund withdrawals just ahead of the Durga Puja festival. The petition highlighted that this restriction has hindered their ability to pay rent and salaries to office staff during the festive season.
The TMC requested the court to allow them to utilize the funds from their three bank accounts and sought an urgent hearing on the matter. However, Justice Bhattacharya rejected the plea for immediate consideration. The case is expected to be heard after the court reopens following the festival holidays.
The petition further claimed that the special officer had asked whether the new name and election symbol assigned to the faction were exclusively for the upcoming by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar, scheduled for Tuesday.
Earlier, the West Bengal police had frozen the TMC’s three accounts in a private bank due to allegations of illegal transactions. In response, the faction led by Mamata Banerjee filed a challenge in the Kolkata High Court.
Subsequently, Justice Bhattacharya appointed a special officer to manage the accounts. On July 9, the judge ruled that the Mamata Banerjee-led faction would retain control over these accounts for the time being.
However, the judge stipulated that the faction could not make excessive expenditures, and the special officer would facilitate payments for the TMC’s daily operations and salaries. This order is set to remain in effect until January 29 of the following year.
The matter was revisited last month, with the court noting that since the accounts were registered under “All India Trinamool Congress,” no faction should have the right to operate them, especially after the Election Commission of India (ECI) recently froze the party’s name and its original election symbol, the “flower and grass.”
Justice Bhattacharya dismissed the state government’s lawyer’s argument, asserting that the ECI’s decision pertained to the party’s name and symbol, and was not final. He confirmed that the Mamata Banerjee-led faction would retain the right to use the accounts through the appointed special officer until January 29, 2027.
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