Mamata accuses HC of colluding with BJP

On the backfoot after a High Court bench axed 26,000 jobs for a scam in which Trinamool leaders are in CBI and ED custody, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, the general secretary of the Trinamool Congress, today kept up their attack on the High Court. Both accused the High Court of having a “covert understanding with the Bharatiya Janata Party.”

The Trinamool Congress also issued a media release which said: “Are orders being typed at the BJP party office and then being taken to the court or are BJP leaders present where the court orders are being typed? We have seen Abhijit Ganguly on how he reached out to BJP to be their Lok Sabha candidate while being in the judiciary.”

Meanwhile, Calcutta High Court bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya today granted permission to file petitions regarding the alleged contempt of court and took on record the media reports submitted by senior lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya on the Chief Minister’s controversial remarks.

Lawyers told the Chief Justice’s Bench that the CM had said that the High Court had been “sold out.” Bhattacharya urged the Bench to take strict action against the Chief Minister for her “contemptuous” statements.

“I am praying suo motu cognisance be taken. Unless the court becomes strict on this … If I have to file (a criminal contempt) petition, I will have to go through the Advocate General’s permission, which will not be granted at any point of time … I can file an affidavit showing that these are the statements, but kindly take cognisance of this. Otherwise, every court is laughing at us – what is going on! “High Court has been purchased” (it is said). We do cases before the Hon’ble court after toiling midnight oil … Now somebody is accusing that the judges of the High Court and the entire High Court has been sold!” Bhattacharya submitted.

We will give translations of the headings. Now (it is reported that) ‘High Court has been sold out.’ That is the statement of the Hon’ble Chief Minister – not on one day, but persistently after the judgment delivered by this court.