TMC seeks urgent hearing over removal of billboard from Abhishek’s office

The Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the Trinamool Congress approached the Calcutta High Court on Friday over the removal of an allegedly illegal billboard from the roof of party MP Abhishek Banerjee’s office on Camac Street in central Kolkata.

Senior counsel Kishore Dutta, a former advocate general of West Bengal, brought the matter before a special single-judge bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury. The court permitted the party to file a petition, although a decision on its request for an urgent hearing was still awaited.

Dutta told the court that Kolkata Municipal Corporation officials had arrived at the Camac Street office at around 4.45 pm on Thursday and begun dismantling the billboard.

He said the office of Calcutta High Court Acting Chief Justice Tapabrata Chakrabarty had been informed about the development. The petitioner was subsequently directed to place the matter before Justice Basu Chowdhury’s bench.

The Trinamool counsel requested an urgent hearing, but Justice Basu Chowdhury asked the party to first register the petition and return with the case number. The judge said the matter could not be taken up until the registration process was completed.

The court indicated that it could hear the case on Friday once a number had been assigned. It also directed the petitioner to notify the other parties involved, including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Kolkata Police.

Tension had erupted on Camac Street on Thursday when KMC officials, accompanied by police personnel, arrived at Abhishek Banerjee’s office to remove the billboard.

Two rounds of scuffles broke out between Trinamool activists and the police before civic workers eventually dismantled it.

Abhishek Banerjee, the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha member and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, had said on Thursday that he would challenge the action before the Calcutta High Court.

With IANS inputs