India, Aug. 19 -- A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday held rebel TMC MLA Ritabrata Banerjee's appointment as Leader of Opposition as a "provisional decision" of the Speaker, directing that he will continue as LoP for two months or until further orders from a single bench hearing a challenge to his appointment.

The division bench, presided by Justice Shampa Sarkar, said that both the rival groups of the Trinamool Congress ought to have been heard by the Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly before arriving at any decision on the appointment of Leader of the Opposition.

It directed that the issues involved in the petition by TMC's Mamata Banerjee faction MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay will be decided by the single-bench judg...