KOLKATA: Bidhannagar Mayor Sabyasachi Dutta resigned from his post on Thursday, a day after the Calcutta High Court quashed a notice for a meeting of the TMC-controlled Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to remove him.
Dutta, who is also the TMC MLA from Rajarhat-New Town but has been at loggerheads with the party leadership, clarified that he has not quit the party.
He told reporters that he had sent his resignation to the BMC chairperson and commissioner.
The HC had on Wednesday also directed that a fresh notice be issued for taking up no-confidence proceedings against Dutta within two days.
Dutta had moved the high court, challenging the notice served on him by the civic body commissioner.
In his petition, he had claimed that the attempt to remove him from the post of mayor is a "sinister coup" to transfer power for satisfying personal ego. This had followed a notice issued to Dutta on July 9.
In the notice, the BMC commissioner had convened a meeting of the board of councillors on Thursday on the direction of the chairperson for removing him as mayor.
The court quashed the notice since it had not been issued as per the provisions of West Bengal Municipal Act, 2006.
It held that as per the law, only the chairperson can issue a notice for a meeting of the board of councillors of a municipal corporation.
Dutta told newsmen that the relation between him and the TMC had soured when he took part in a protest programme of a labour union backed by the party in the state-run power sector in Salt Lake on July 5 and criticised the state government for not fulfilling the longstanding demands for increase in salaries in the sector.
His resignation letter said, "I thought of giving a strong message before finally submitting my resignation and knocked the doors of justice challenging the illegalities and irregularities adopted to show how powerful some can be for the fault of me (sic) exercising my freedom of speech and expression and speaking for the oppressed section".
Dutta said "I cannot tolerate the people living within the jurisdiction of the corporation (BMC) suffering owing to the prevailing stalemate or for apprehended suspension of basic municipal amenities which would have soon followed had I continued as the Mayor for satisfying ego (sic) owing to vindictive acts".
He did not answer questions about his next course of action. Dutta was in the eye of a political storm over his recent meetings with BJP leader Mukul Roy.
Dutta had, however, said that Roy visited him as an elder brother.