The Supreme Court left Rs 440 crore in TMC accounts frozen on October 1, denying the Mamata Banerjee-led faction emergency relief. The bench rejected the petition, stating it would not exercise its discretionary jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution to interfere in the matter.
Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that freezing the accounts is a de facto shutdown of the party's operations. “If the police can successfully freeze all the accounts, that is the best way of stopping political activities,” Singhvi told the court. He contended that the current action goes beyond the scope of the original complaints.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the West Bengal government, countered that the dispute is messy because two rival factions claim to be the “real TMC.” Mehta pointed to the Election Commission of India’s order dated September 17, which froze the party symbol pending adjudication of the internal conflict. This administrative freeze, he argued, means the court cannot easily determine who is entitled to control the funds right now.
The bench observed that the case involves new allegations regarding the sale of government land, distinct from earlier orders. “We refrain from going into the merits,” the court said. It instructed the Calcutta High Court to advance the hearing, which Mehta acknowledged had been pushed to a later date after vacations.
The funds were originally frozen in June after rebel MLAs filed complaints questioning the source of the money. The next critical step lies with the Calcutta High Court, which must now hear the main case to determine whether the West Bengal Police’s freeze on the debit operations of those three accounts is legally justified.