Calcutta HC questions appointment of Ritabrata Banerjee as LoP, reserves order

THe Calcutta heights margaret court on wed reserved its dictate on the petition filed by Trinamool u.s. Congress (TMC) legislator Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay challenging West Bengal assembly speaker Rathindra Nath Bose’s June 3 decision to recognise expelled TMC MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the Opposition (LoP).During the hearing, justice Krishna Rao repeatedly questioned the speaker’s decision to recognise an expelled TMC member as LoP though the party had officially recommended Chattopadhyay for the post.The state’s additional advocate general Bilwadal Bhattacharya represented the speaker while TMC Lok Sabha member and senior lawyer Kalyan Banerjee represented Chattopadhyay.On May 4 the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 207 seats against the TMC’s 80.On June 1, Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha were expelled from the TMC after chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said their written complaint had led to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probe into the alleged signature forgery.Also Read:Who is Ritabrata Banerjee? TMC MLA leading ‘rebel’ faction and likely to be Bengal LoPThe two legislators alleged that signatures of several TMC MLAs were forged on a May 19 resolution nominating Chattopadhyay as the assembly’s leader of opposition (LoP). The speaker subsequently sought a police investigation into the matter. Abhishek Banerjee, who forwarded the resolution to the speaker, is considered a key suspect by the police in this case.On June 3, Bose recognised 58 rebel TMC legislators as the principal opposition group in the 294-member House and named Ritabrata Banerjee as the LoP.“On Wednesday, the bench asked whether an allegation of signature forgery was enough for the speaker to ignore the TMC’s resolution seeking Chattopadhyay as the LoP and recognise Banerjee as LoP, even though the latter had been expelled by the TMC. The court said that the forgery is yet to be established in court,” a lawyer who attended the hearing said, requesting anonymity.The court also questioned Bhattacharya’s argument that Ritabrata Banerjee’s expulsion was an internal matter of the TMC and therefore of no consequence to the assembly.Kalyan Banerjee argued that a speaker cannot choose an LoP by ignoring the party he represents. “Legislators are part of a political party. How can the decision of the party be ignored by the speaker?” Kalyan Banerjee told the court.Bhattacharya argued that on June 3, 56 of the 58 rebel MLAs decided to elect Ritabrata Banerjee as the LoP. However, the bench repeatedly questioned why the speaker ignored the TMC’s May 19 letter stating that 78 MLAs selected Chattopadhyay as the LoP.Before reserving its order, the court also asked if the speaker should have given TMC an opportunity to present its case before announcing his decision.