Calcutta High Court Allows Conditional Access to Trinamool Congress Bank Accounts
Quick Look
- The Calcutta High Court has granted conditional access to the Trinamool Congress's bank accounts, allowing withdrawals for daily expenses and legal matters.
- Funds can be accessed via cheque with counter-signatures from a court-appointed observer, retired Justice Subrata Talukdar, who will monitor all transactions.
AI-generated summary
Why It Matters
The Trinamool Congress's bank accounts were restricted following directives from the police, after a former treasurer sought a freeze due to fund misuse concerns and a dissident group of MLAs lodged a complaint.
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted conditional access to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress to withdraw funds from the party's bank accounts.
A petition was filed by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress, which challenged the restriction on their three bank accounts with total deposits of ₹440 crore, following directives from the police.
The matter came up for hearing before the Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Sougata Bhattacharya who gave permission to the Trinamool Congress to meet daily expenditure, including legal expenses, from these three bank accounts.
The Calcutta HC allowed withdrawal of funds through cheque only for day to day use.
Two authorised signatories from Trinamool Congress, as per court order, will be able to draw money by signing cheques for these three bank accounts along with the counter-signatures of the court-appointed special observer.
The High Court had appointed retired Justice Subrata Talukdar as special officer to monitor fund withdrawal and give permission for withdrawal.
All expenditure that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress wants to do will have to be routed through the court-appointed special officer.
The bank had put restrictions on the three accounts following instructions from the West Bengal Police after two parallel developments.
The party's former treasurer and former West Bengal Sports and Power Minister Aroop Biswas had sent a letter to the private bank seeking a freeze on the accounts over apprehensions over fund misuse.
MLAs belonging to the Trinamool Congress' dissident group had lodged a complaint.
Following the allegations, police had directed the bank to impose restrictions on the accounts.
Open Questions
- What specific daily expenses are permitted?
- What are the exact legal matters for which funds can be withdrawn?
