High Court allows TMC to use funds from frozen bank accounts for day-to-day operations

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the Trinamool Congress to use the funds from its three bank accounts that were frozen by the West Bengal Police and the Enforcement Directorate, Bar and Bench reported.

The party has been allowed to use the funds for day-to-day operations under the supervision of a special officer, retired judge Justice Subrata Talukdar, till September 30, said Justice Saugata Bhattacharya.

On June 19, Kolkata Police froze debit operations on the three accounts, a day after rebel TMC MLA Biswanath Das filed a complaint alleging that funds had been misused. The party has been grappling with internal factionalism after its loss in the West Bengal Assembly elections in May.

On Wednesday, the Enforcement Directorate said that it had frozen three bank accounts of the TMC, holding deposits worth Rs 440 crore, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The party described the agency’s action as “politically motivated”.

On Thursday, the High Court observed that at the interim stage, it was unable to find sufficient material justifying the “abrupt” freezing of the accounts within a day of the first information report being registered, Bar and Bench reported.

The TMC can use the money in the accounts only for the day-to-day expenses needed for running the party and for legal expenses, the legal news outlet quoted the court as saying.

The court...

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