Calcutta HC allows TMC conditional access to ₹440 cr in banks

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.

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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.