Supreme Court declines to interfere in HC order on TMC bank accounts

The Supreme Court decided on Tuesday not to interfere with a July 20 Calcutta High Court order that denied interim permission to Mamata Banerjee's faction of the Trinamool Congress to operate three frozen bank accounts. A two-judge bench, consisting of Justices M M Sundresh and P B Varale, stated that the earlier High Court decision was "balanced" and satisfied with its ruling.

The High Court had earlier allowed limited operation of the accounts to cover day-to-day expenses. Justice Sundresh noted that while the interim order addressed this, there remained a question of whether additional measures should be taken. However, the court declined to provide further guidance, leaving the matter to the discretion of the Special Officer appointed by the High Court.

The Enforcement Directorate had previously frozen the accounts, holding Rs 400 crore in a money laundering investigation that originated from a West Bengal Police complaint. On July 9, the High Court appointed former Calcutta High Court judge, Justice Subrata Talukdar, as the Special Officer for the accounts until September 30.