Interim stay on demolition of Abhishek Banerjee’s Amtala office extended till Nov 30

Kolkata, Sep 22 (IANS) A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday extended the interim stay on the demolition of the party office of Trinamool Congress General Secretary and the party's Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha member, Abhishek Banerjee, at Amtala in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal till November 30. At the same time, the single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh also directed the state government to submit a detailed report on what was seized from the Amtala office. It also directed that a copy of the report be given to the petitioner before the next hearing, which has been listed for November 26. During the hearing, Abhishek Banerjee’s counsel argued that although there were reported some problems with other plot numbers, the Trinamool Congress office at plot number 507 was partially destroyed. The counsel also claimed that his client deserved compensation for this error on the part of the district administration. To recall, a person named Sushant Mondal filed a complaint on May 17 alleging that Abhishek Banerjee's office in Amtala was illegally constructed. The state administration took action in response to that complaint. A part of the Amtala office was demolished on July 18. The demolition work began again on July 19. The Calcutta High Court, which observed a holiday on Sunday, issued a stay order. The office was registered in the name of a corporate entity "Leaps & Bounds Private Limited", which is linked to the Banerjee family. The notice sent by the administration was also in the name of that organisation. The Trinamool Congress faction led by Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee accused the administration of beginning the demolition work without serving prior notice in the matter. It also accused the administration of not providing any information about the basis on which the action was being taken. The party also alleged that the demolition of the office began without giving any opportunity to speak. The court, considering the arguments of both parties, ordered an interim stay on the demolition of the office. --IANS src/uk