Supreme Court asks Calcutta High Court to decide Abhishek Banerjee's foreign travel plea in a week

The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Calcutta High Court to decide, Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament (MP) Abhishek Banerjee's plea for permission to travel abroad for eye treatment within a week.

Banerjee has sought permission to travel abroad for eye treatment. The High Court had earlier declined to give him immediate relief. It had said that the TMC leader should first get his eye's condition assessed by a hospital in Kolkata to see if its treatment can be done within India.

Banerjee had challenged this order before the top court.

Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana today requested the High Court to take a final call in the matter within a week's time.

The plea comes against the backdrop of a string of FIRs registered against Banerjee after the BJP swept the West Bengal Assembly elections and came to power in the State on May 4.

Among other cases, Banerjee also faces FIRs for allegedly provocative comments made during election campaigns. Banerjee has filed petitions seeking to quash these cases and has secured interim protection in several of them.

As a condition for such interim relief in an election speech case, Banerjee was also directed not to leave the country without the High Court's permission.

Last month, the High Court refused to immediately grant Banerjee permission to travel abroad for eye treatment. The High Court said that the grant of such permission would only be considered after the SSKM Hospital found that the eye treatment was not possible in Kolkata.

Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan appeared for Abhishek Banerjee before the Supreme Court today and urged it to grant the TMC leader relief. Sankaranarayanan flagged concerns that it may take time for the High Court to decide on Banerjee's foreign travel plea, given the large backlog of cases pending there.

He also pointed out that Banerjee had travelled abroad several times earlier, each time under orders of the High Court itself.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the State of West Bengal and suggested that the matter may be fixed for hearing on a specific date.

"We request the High Court to decide the case within a week," the top court proceeded to record in its order.

[Read Live Coverage]