kolkata

IIE Digital Desk: The Calcutta High Court extended its temporary ban on the redevelopment of Abhishek Banerjee's parliamentary constituency office in Amtala, South 24 hours on Tuesday. Parganas, until August 6. It ordered that the nature of this property, its possession and character be maintained until at least the next hearing.

Abhishek Banerjee's constituency office, a five-storey building, was demolished by the state administration in response to allegations of unlawful construction. The property owners sought relief from the High Court after demolition work commenced on July 18.

The High Court intervened on July 19, during a special holiday, and ordered an immediate stop to the demolition. This was unusual. The court noted that the owners appeared to have been deprived of an opportunity to present their case before the authorities started the demolition operation.The West Bengal government attempted to request the temporary protection to be removed during the hearing on Tuesday. Advocate General Surjit Nath Mitra maintained that the requests for demolition were directed towards plots numbered 509 and 512, while the demolition was actually carried out on plot 507. The state maintained that the former status quo order should be abandoned on this basis.

Representing Leaps and Bounds Pvt. Ltd, the property's owner, opposed the state' s request, according to senior advocate Kishore Dutta. He claimed that the company had not received a demolition notice and that they were not informed of the accusations or given pause before the authorities intervened. The owner refrained from commenting on the allegations. He argued that the owners should have been given permission to demolish the structure voluntarily, even if it was considered illegal. Furthermore, the Trinamool Congress filed a separate petition against the demolition. Three separate applications related to the same issue were submitted, and Justice Suvra Ghosh noted that they would need to be heard concurrently before a final decision could be reached. The hearing was held on March 20. Therefore, the court halted the proceedings and prolonged the interim protection until August 6 at 2 p.m.

There has also been significant political attention on the case, with the legality of the construction and demolition process now set to be thoroughly examined in the next hearing. The High Court's ruling has prohibited any further demolition activities at the Amtala office until that time.