Calcutta High Court allows TMC to operate frozen bank accounts for day to day expenses under special officer's supervision

In a major relief to Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress party (TMC), the Calcutta High Court on Thursday appointed a special officer to facilitate the operation of the three TMC bank accounts that were frozen on the directions of the West Bengal Police after rebel TMC MLA Biswanath Das lodged a complaint alleging fund misuse.

Justice Saugata Bhattacharya has appointed retired judge Justice Subrata Talukdar as the special officer till September 30.

The Court has permitted TMC to resume operating its frozen bank accounts under Justice Talukdar's supervision, albeit only for day-to-day expenses.

The money in the account shall be used only for the day-to-day expenses needed for the running of the party and for legal expenses, the Court said.

"No other expenditure, major or minor, shall be permitted by special officer," the Court said.

Though the State vehemently opposed use of the money in the accounts to fund legal expenses/ fees of the TMC, the judge allowed such expenses as well.

The interim order was passed after taking into account the submission by the rebel MLA/ complainant that if the petitioner (TMC) is given the right to operate the bank accounts, valuable evidence may be tampered with.

"Taking note of the concerns expressed by the rival parties (petitioner and R4/ complainant), Court finds it apt to appoint a special officer to facilitate operation of aforesaid three bank accounts," the Court held.

The Court has permitted any two of the authorised signatories of those three bank accounts to present cheques before the court-appointed special officer as and when money is required to fund day-to-day expenses.

The officer shall countersign the cheque and then it shall be presented before bank authority for encashment, the Court directed.

The Court added that the special officer should be paid an honorarium of ₹1.25 lakhs per month, which the petitioner can fund using money from the bank accounts.

The accounts in focus were frozen by the Bidhannagar police on a complaint raising allegations of fund diversion.

TMC is currently grappling with internal divisions following its recent defeat in the State Assembly polls. The action against the party’s bank accounts was taken following a complaint made by rebel TMC MLA Biswanath Das.

TMC has denounced the complaint as baseless, malafide and motivated. It has raised concerns that the freeze on the bank accounts has severely disrupted the party functioning.

The Court today opined that the complaint made by Biswanath Das appeared to be an omnibus one, bereft of any particular incident or transaction.

It further noted the tearing hurry in the police's action to lodge an FIR and then debit freeze three bank accounts on the very next day.

"FIR was drawn up at 18:00 hours on June 18, and hurriedly on the next day on June 19, those three accounts were debit frozen," the judge recorded in his order.

The Court added that it made an attempt to find out the materials relied upon by the police to debit freeze the accounts, to litte avail.

"At this stage, court is unable to find particular materials which could have been basis of taking such abrupt steps," the Court recorded in its order.

During the hearing as well, the Court questioned the State government and the West Bengal Police for freezing the bank accounts of All India Trinamool Congress' (TMC) at "lightning speed" in the present case.

The judge orally observed that such a proactive approach is rarely seen when a poor citizen goes to the police.

"Why such a lightening speed everything happened? When a poor citizen comes to a police station, the police is not activated. But when a complaint is lodged on evening 6PM with respect to three accounts, next day freeze occurs," the judge remarked orally.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the State, said that it was acting with the objective of protecting people's money and property.

He also raised concerns that if the bank accounts are de-freezed, the rival TMC factions may clash on who gets to operate it.

The Court acknowledged that there were two rival factions laying claim as being the real TMC and this dispute is currently pending before the Election Commission of India (ECI). The Court also recorded the rebel TMC MLA's claim that he belongs to the real TMC.

However, the Court said that it is not necessary to expand scope of the case to see who is the real TMC.

"If any faction is later recognised by ECI as true TMC, an appropriate application can be made to court," the Court said.

Moreover, the Court took strong exception to the conduct of the rebel MLA Biswanath Das in the matter. It said that Das prima facie acted in an opportunistic manner and did not raise any issues before the recently concluded assembly elections, which the TMC eventually lost.

"Why the complainant did not raise the issue before May 4 (day of election results). It is nothing but sheer opportunism," the Court said.

Senior Advocate K Parameshwar, appearing for the rebel MLA, said that the complaint was lodged after irregularities were detected.

"The entirety of the circumstances happened after (May 4)!," Parameshwar said.

"Your complaint is bereft of issues that you are raising today. It appears to be an effort in disguise to freeze the account," the judge remarked, in response.

The judge added that the actions by the rebel MLA appeared to be a ploy to debit freeze the account.

"I am expressing my mind, that too prima facie, that it is a ploy to debit freeze the account, nothing else! And at the instance of a person who himself is a beneficiary of those three accounts," the Court remarked.

The matter is listed next on September 21.

Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul also appeared for the complainant/ TMC MLA Biswanath Das.

Senior Advocates Kishore Datta and AM Singhvi appeared for the TMC (petitioner)

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