Kolkata: The owner of the Trinamool Congress Camac Street office used by MP Abhishek Banerjee has demanded the party vacate the premises immediately, issuing legal notices on Aug 24 and 25 alleging illegal occupation. The development comes at a time Trinamool is already embroiled in a dispute over its EM Bypass state office.
Advocate Sagnika Banerjee, representing owner Ramadevi Goenka, told reporters that a lease agreement was signed with TMC and its authorised signatory Debraj Chakraborty on March 1, 2020, covering the sixth and seventh floors.
She said a key clause required the owner to first provide a completion certificate before the tenant could take possession — a certificate that has never been issued. “Despite this, they have illegally and unauthorisedly occupied the building,” she said.
Asked why the issue was being raised now, she said earlier complaints had gone unaddressed under the previous govt. “With the change in govt, we hope things will move forward. If there is no response to the notice, we will approach the police, and if they fail to act, we will move court,” she said.
The notice coincides with the fallout from a joint police-KMC drive on Aug 27 to remove a party billboard from the Camac Street office, which was resisted by Trinamool seniors including Abhishek Banerjee, Derek O’Brien and Baiswanar Chatterjee.
An FIR was registered on Aug 28, leading to 13 arrests. On Friday, the Anti-Rowdy Squad arrested a 14th suspect, Taufiq, for allegedly instigating violence and attacking police. The 13 previously arrested were produced in court on Saturday and remanded to judicial custody until Sept 3.
Trinamool approached the Calcutta High Court on Aug 28; the court declined to grant an interim stay but agreed to hear both sides.
Urban development minister Agnimitra Paul said the hoarding was removed on safety grounds and that encroachment claims would be investigated.
Trinamool spokesperson Kunal Ghosh called the action “purely vindictive politics by BJP,” alleging the party had numerous billboards on Camac Street and that there had been a “forceful attempt to enter the party office.”