Kolkata, Jun 18 The Calcutta High Court on Thursday refused any interim order on the West Bengal Assembly Speaker's decision to appoint dissident TMC group MLA Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of the opposition.
TMC MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay moved the court challenging the rejection of his name and the appointment of Ritabrata Banerjee as the LoP by the Speaker of the assembly.
Justice Krishna Rao, refusing any interim order on the Speaker's decision as prayed for by Chattopadhyay, directed that the matter would appear for hearing again on July 28.
The court directed the respondents in the petition to file affidavits within three weeks.
The petitioner will have the opportunity to reply to the affidavits within the subsequent two weeks, Justice Rao directed.
The breakaway group claimed the support of 58 of the TMC's total 80 seats.
The Mamata Banerjee-led group sought an interim order staying the appointment of Ritabrata Banerjee as LoP and Sandipan Saha as chief whip because the first session of the 18th West Bengal Assembly commenced on Thursday.
The court, in its order uploaded on the high court's website, noted that on June 3, 58 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress out of a total 80 members jointly informed the Speaker that they have got the majority as TMC MLAs and that they unanimously decided to select Ritabrata Banerjee as the leader of opposition in the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
The court noted the Speaker's lawyer's submission that out of 58 MLAs who signed the joint request, 56 members appeared personally before the Speaker and considering the same, he passed an order appointing Ritabrata Banerjee the leader of opposition.
The court noted that the resolution submitted by the national general secretary of TMC on May 20 is in dispute.
A criminal case is pending regarding allegations by Banerjee and Saha that some of the signatures, including theirs on the resolution, were forged.
Justice Rao pointed out that the Speaker conducted an inquiry and found there was a dispute regarding the signatures on the resolution submitted by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and that the notice of expulsion for MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha is also under challenge.
It was stated before the high court that a magistrate at Alipore Civil Court ordered a stay on the expulsion till June 30.
