SC Asks HC To Hear Abhishek’s Travel Plea

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Calcutta High Court to take up within a week TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s plea seeking permission to travel abroad for eye treatment.

A three-judge bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana was told by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Banerjee, that the application for permission to travel abroad for medical treatment was pending before the high court without a hearing date.

“Application for permission to travel abroad for medical treatment is pending before the high court. It appears that no date has been fixed so far. We, therefore, request the high court to look into that application,” the Supreme Court said.

Banerjee has challenged the July 20 order passed by a single-judge bench of the Calcutta high court before the Supreme Court.

The Calcutta high court had earlier extended till October 6 Banerjee’s interim protection from coercive action in a case related to alleged intimidatory statements he made during the West Bengal Assembly election campaign.

Granting relief, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya had directed Banerjee to cooperate with the probe and not travel abroad without the court’s permission.

The judge extended the interim protection till October 6, or until further orders, whichever is earlier, and said the plea for modification of conditions would be heard in August without fixing a specific date.

The Diamond Harbour MP had moved the application seeking permission to travel abroad for eye treatment.