Calcutta HC extends stay on demolition of Abhishek Banerjee’s Amtala party office till Sep 18

Kolkata, Aug 20 (IANS) The Calcutta High Court on Thursday extended the interim stay on the demolition of the Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee’s office at Amtala in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district till September 18.

Extending its stay, a single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh posted the matter for the next hearing on September 8.

The said building is registered in the name of a corporate entity, Leaps & Bounds Private Ltd, which is again linked to the Banerjee family.

As the matter came up for hearing on Thursday at Justice Ghosh’s bench, the counsel for the said corporate entity argued that although there were allegations of illegal construction on land at plot numbers 509 and 512, the construction on plot number 507, which is the office of his client Abhishek Banerjee, was demolished. He also demanded appropriate compensation for that demolition.

State Advocate General Surajit Nath Mitra sought some time from the court to present his argument.

Finally, Justice Ghosh extended the interim stay and fixed the next date of hearing when the Advocate General will present his argument.

The South 24 Parganas district administration earlier summoned Abhishek Banerjee after several complaints were raised against his party office at Amtala, for which a notice was issued.

The notice mentioned that the land on which the Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MP’s office was built was purchased in the name of corporate entity Leaps and Bounds Private Ltd, which is linked to the Banerjee family.

On not receiving any response to two consecutive notices, the district administration had, on July 18, demolished a portion of the Amtala office, claiming that the entire construction was illegal.

Abhishek Banerjee, also the nephew of the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, approached the Calcutta High Court against the demolition.

A special bench then sat on Sunday and ordered an interim stay on further demolition, asking the district administration to maintain status quo in the matter. Later, the matter was referred to the regular bench of Justice Ghosh.

–IANS

src/vd