The Calcutta High Court on Thursday declined to grant interim relief in a petition challenging West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose’s decision to recognise expelled Trinamool Congress MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of Opposition, Live Law reported.

Justice Krishna Rao directed all parties to file affidavits explaining their stands. The matter has been listed for further hearing on July 28, Bar and Bench reported.

The writ petition was filed by TMC leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who argued that the speaker had ignored the party leadership’s decision to nominate him as leader of Opposition.

According to the petition, a meeting of Trinamool MLAs held on May 6 nominated Chattopadhyay for the post and the decision was communicated to the speaker.

The speaker subsequently sought a resolution and minutes of the meeting, after which additional documents were submitted following another meeting on May 19.

However, the speaker later recognised Ritabrata Banerjee as leader of Opposition on the basis of support claimed by a group of rebel Trinamool MLAs.

During the hearing, the court questioned why the speaker had not acted on the proposal submitted by the party leadership while accepting a subsequent representation from rebel legislators, Live Law reported.

The court observed that the central question was whether the speaker could ignore one proposal and recognise another without hearing all concerned parties.

Bose’s counsel defended the speaker’s decision, arguing that he was required to determine which claimant commanded the support of the majority of legislators belonging to the Opposition party.

The speaker’s counsel said 58 of the party’s 80 MLAs supported Ritabrata Banerjee and had personally appeared before him, and that the decision was based on numerical strength within the legislature party.

Ritabrata Banerjee’s lawyer argued that the leader of Opposition’s office was linked to the functioning of the Assembly, which would mean the speaker was entitled to assess which claimant enjoyed majority support.

It was also argued that the dispute concerned an internal disagreement within the party and not a split, which would attract the provisions of the anti-defection law under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, Live Law reported.

Appearing for Chattopadhyay, advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay argued that the speaker had wrongly treated the legislature party’s views as superior to those of the political party.

He contended that only the political party leadership could decide who would represent it as leader of Opposition.

After hearing the parties, the court said it did not find a prima facie case for granting interim relief and declined to stay the speaker’s decision pending further proceedings, Bar and Bench reported.

On June 3, Ritabrata Banerjee claimed that Bose had accepted the claim of 58 of the party’s 80 MLAs to be the main Opposition in the state.

The stand taken by the 58 MLAs is being viewed as a challenge to party chief Mamata Banerjee, who is supporting Chattopadhyay as the Opposition leader in the House.

TMC rift

Rebel TMC MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha, who have been expelled from the party, have alleged that 14 of the signatures were forged in documents submitted to Bose in support of Chattopadhyay’s appointment.

On June 2, TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee sent a fresh letter to Bose, reiterating the party’s decision to appoint Chattopadhyay as leader of the Opposition.

A first information report was registered based on complaints filed by the expelled MLAs. The police are investigating Abhishek Banerjee, who signed the letter, in connection with the case.

Edited by Neerad Pandharipande.

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