Despite it being a holiday, an urgent hearing is set for Sunday afternoon at the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench. This hearing is in response to a petition filed by Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress general secretary and Lok Sabha member. The petition challenges the demolition of his party office in Amtala, South 24 Parganas district, West Bengal.
The demolition of the five-storey party office began on Saturday and continued into Sunday morning. The matter is to be heard at a special bench presided over by Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury in the second half of Sunday. Abhishek Banerjee, who is the nephew of former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, has taken steps to seek an urgent hearing by sending videos of the demolition to the OSD of the Calcutta High Court’s Acting Chief Justice.
Banerjee mentioned that if necessary, he is prepared to escalate the matter up to the Supreme Court. The South 24 Parganas district administration stated that the demolition was due to the alleged illegal constructions and the lack of response to notices issued on June 30 and July 7. The building was claimed to have been constructed without a proper building sanction plan, and the respondent failed to provide clarifications as requested.
Local residents, including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members, accused the office of being a center for criminal activities involving individuals like Jahangir Khan. They alleged that the office was built on illegally acquired land. All attention is now focused on the upcoming hearing before the single-judge bench later in the day.
