Kolkata, Oct. 1 -- The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to intervene in the freezing of four bank accounts of the Trinamool Congress, leaving the issue to be decided by the Calcutta High Court.
The court declined to exercise its jurisdiction under Article 136 against the High Court's August 27 order refusing interim relief to the party. The bench, however, requested the High Court to expedite the pending proceedings.
The accounts, maintained with Indian Bank's Harish Mukherjee Road branch, were debit-frozen following an FIR registered by the Bidhannagar Cyber Crime Police on a complaint lodged by MLA Biswanath Das on June 18.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Trinamool, argued that the freeze was hampering the party's functioning and said its audited accounts reflected minimum monthly operational expenses of Rs 12.15 crore. He also stressed that the four accounts were distinct from three HDFC accounts covered by an earlier High Court order permitting controlled withdrawals.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the plea, referring to allegations under investigation and disputed financial transactions. The complainant's counsel also opposed extending the existing arrangement to the Indian Bank accounts.
The Supreme Court noted that the earlier orders concerned a different set of accounts and declined to examine the merits of the allegations at this stage.
The High Court had earlier held that no additional interim arrangement was necessary since the party was already permitted to meet day-to-day expenses through a court-appointed Special Officer.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.