The Calcutta High Court on Thursday granted interim relief to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) by allowing it to partially operate three of its primary HDFC Bank accounts to cover daily administrative and legal costs.
To manage the process neutrally, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya appointed retired High Court Judge Subrata Talukdar as a special officer to oversee all financial withdrawals through September 30. The court clarified that this temporary financial setup does not validate either faction’s claim to be the official TMC.
Court Questions Speed of Police Action
The single-judge bench raised serious questions about the Bidhannagar police cybercrime unit’s rapid decision to freeze the accounts, which hold a combined corpus of Rs 440 crore. The accounts were frozen on June 19, less than 24 hours after a rebel TMC faction filed a First Information Report (FIR) at 6 p.m. on June 18.
Justice Bhattacharyya questioned the urgency of the freeze, noting that the police rarely act with such swiftness for common citizens’ complaints. The judge observed that, on the surface, there appeared to be no supporting material to justify freezing the accounts.
The court also rebuked the breakaway faction’s claims of being the actual TMC. Noting that the complainants are sitting MLAs who won their seats under Banerjee’s leadership before rebelling after May 4, the judge described the timing of their challenge as sheer opportunism aimed at claiming party ownership.
Impact on Party Operations
Representing the Banerjee-led faction, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the freeze had completely paralyzed the party’s basic operations. He noted that a total of eight accounts had been frozen, including some due to interventions by the Enforcement Directorate.
According to a supplementary affidavit submitted by the party, the frozen funds halted critical payments. These include Rs 51 lakh in salaries for 215 desk employees, approximately Rs 5 lakh for security personnel, and over Rs 1.07 crore in legal and operational fees, alongside outstanding vendor bills for basic office furniture and local transit.
State representative Solicitor General Tushar Mehta strongly opposed the unfreezing, arguing that the police action was necessary to protect public funds. However, the court ruled that both legal and essential daily operational expenses could be cleared under the supervised framework.
Supervision Guidelines and Timeline
Under the court-approved mechanism, two authorized signatories from the Banerjee faction can present cheques for essential daily expenditures to Justice Talukdar. Once the special officer verifies and countersigns the cheques, the bank is authorized to process the payments.
Justice Talukdar will receive a monthly honorarium of Rs 1.75 lakh, funded directly from the frozen accounts, for his supervision work through September 30. HDFC Bank has been instructed to meticulously record all electronic transaction logs and cooperate fully with investigators.
The High Court emphasized that this interim financial arrangement will not impact the ongoing leadership recognition dispute currently pending before the Election Commission of India. The Bidhannagar police have been directed to submit a progress report on their investigation before the next court hearing on September 21.
