NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by Mamata Banerjee- led TMC faction seeking permission to operate four debit-frozen bank accounts containing around Rs 804 crore.
A two-judge bench of Justices M M Sundresh and P B Varale said it was not inclined to interfere with the Calcutta High Court's interim order refusing to grant the relief.
"The entitlement to funds in bank accounts cannot be decided when the symbol dispute is pending before the Election Commission," the bench said, refusing to pass any order.
"We refrain from going into the merits. We are not inclined to exercise our jurisdiction under Article 136. We request the high court to expedite the hearing," the bench said.
The Banerjee-led faction had approached the apex court seeking permission to operate the four bank accounts that had been debit-frozen.
The counsel argued that the freezing of the accounts had affected the day-to-day functioning of the party and sought permission to operate them.
Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Mamata faction, submitted that the freezing of the four Indian Bank accounts had paralysed the party's functioning.
"If the police force of a state where the ruling party is opposed to me… send the police and they freeze all accounts, that's the best way of stopping political activities," Singhvi argued.
The Supreme Court noted that the Election Commission had frozen the party's symbol and that the larger dispute over which faction was entitled to the funds was still pending adjudication.
On August 27, the Calcutta High Court had refused to pass an interim order allowing the TMC faction to operate the four accounts, observing that such relief could undermine its earlier order permitting the political party to meet its day-to-day expenses.
The accounts, maintained with public sector banks, were debit-frozen by the West Bengal Police. The TMC had challenged the freezing, claiming there were lacunae in the FIRs on the basis of which the accounts were frozen.