High Court allows TMC to use funds from frozen bank accounts for day-to-day operations
The bench said it was unable to find sufficient material justifying the ‘abrupt’ freezing of the party’s accounts.
The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the Trinamool Congress to use the funds from its three bank accounts that were frozen by the West Bengal Police and the Enforcement Directorate, Bar and Bench reported.
The party has been allowed to use the funds for day-to-day operations under the supervision of a special officer, retired judge Justice Subrata Talukdar, till September 30, said Justice Saugata Bhattacharya.
On June 19, Kolkata Police froze debit operations on the three accounts, a day after rebel TMC MLA Biswanath Das filed a complaint alleging that funds had been misused. The party has been grappling with internal factionalism after its loss in the West Bengal Assembly elections in May.
On Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate said that it had frozen three bank accounts of the TMC, holding deposits worth Rs 440 crore, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The party described the agency’s action as “politically motivated”.
On Thursday, the High Court observed that at the interim stage, it was unable to find sufficient material justifying the “abrupt” freezing of the accounts within a day of the first information report being registered, Bar and Bench reported.
The TMC can use the money in the accounts only for the day-to-day expenses needed for running the party and for legal expenses, the legal news outlet quoted the court as saying.
The court also questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government and the West Bengal Police for freezing the bank accounts of the TMC at a “lightning speed”, Bar and Bench reported.
“When a poor citizen comes to a police station, the police is not activated,” Bar and Bench quoted the High Court as saying. “But when a complaint is lodged on evening 6 pm with respect to three accounts, next day freeze occurs.”
The court noted that the complaint made by Das did not highlight any particular incident or transaction.
Taking strong exception to the conduct of the rebel MLA, the court added that Das prima facie acted opportunistically and did not raise any concern of financial irregularity before the Assembly elections.
“Why the complainant did not raise the issue before May 4 [day of Assembly election results],” Bar and Bench quoted the court as saying. “It is nothing but sheer opportunism.”
Edited by Sneha.
