Kolkata: A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday 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 West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district till August 21.
The tenure of the previous interim stay on the demolition of the said office was till August 6 and after a hearing in the matter on Wednesday, the single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh extended the stay till August 21.
The next date of hearing in the matter is scheduled on August 18.
The demolition of the Amtala office of Abhishek Banerjee, the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, began last month on charges of construction without valid plans and documents.
A part of the office was also demolished using three bulldozers.
However, the Diamond Harbour MP approached the Calcutta High Court challenging the demolition.
After a couple of hearings in the matter at the Calcutta High Court, an interim stay was put on the demolition first till August 6, which has now been extended till August 21.
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 a corporate entity — Leaps and Bounds Private Limited, which is linked to the Banerjee family.
On not receiving any response to two consecutive notices, the district administration finally started demolition of the said office last month.
Challenging this decision of the administration, a case was filed in the High Court on behalf of the said corporate entity.
As the matter came up for hearing before Justice Ghosh’s bench on Wednesday, the state’s Advocate General, Surajit Nath Mitra, sought some time from the court for presenting a detailed argument in the matter.
Thereafter, Justice Ghosh fixed August 18 as the next date of hearing and also extended the interim stay on the demolition till August 21.
(IANS)
