The Supreme Court today requested the Calcutta High Court to expeditiously decide a petition filed by the All India Trinamool Congress challenging the Kolkata Municipal Corporation's removal of billboards from the party's office in Kolkata.

The bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana was hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by Trinamool Congress challenging Calcutta High Court's denial of interim relief regarding the alleged illegal removal of a billboard from atop the party office at Kolkata's Camac Street.

At the outset, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, for the State of West Bengal, raised a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition, saying that there was a remedy of writ appeal.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, for the Trinamool Congress, then retorted, "My learned friend should not be excited..." The Solicitor took objection to this comment from Sibal, and said, "you should not have used this expression; it is just for the media, just because it is a political matter."

Sibal contended that the board was removed without any notice, and the board of Haldiram's, which is functioning on the ground floor, has not been touched.

The bench, pointing out that the matter is still pending before the High Court, expressed disinclination to interfere. Sibal said that the High Court had already decided that there was no cause of action.

The CJI then said, "Just because the board was removed, it does not mean the matter has become infructuous." "If it is found to be wrongly removed, there can be a mandatory order for restoration," Justice Bagchi added.

Sibal argued that if it was removed without notice, the High Court should have interfered readily. "I had a definite averment that there was no notice...the High Court should have raised questions...the High Court says, since the board is removed, now there is no cause of action, and nothing can be done," he submitted.

The bench said that it can ask the High Court to decide in a time-bound manner, and will clarify that the observations in the interim order are only tentative.

The counsel representing the owner of the building also sought to be impleaded in the matter. The bench asked him to make the plea before the High Court.

The bench disposed of the matter with the following order :

"In our view, interim order dated August 28, 20206 has not decided pending issues on merits. Since HC is seized of matter, and there are tentative observations made in the order, the parties are granted liberty to raise their respective contentions before HC. We request the High Court to determine all issues that arise for consideration expeditiously."

To recap, it was alleged by civic authorities that the billboard was unauthorized and hence needed to be removed. Reportedly, the authorities faced resistance when trying to enter the building and had to use the help of local police authorities, leading to a stand-off between party workers and police at the site.

TMC's plea before the High Court was s moved urgently before a bench of Justice Raja Basu Chowdhury, who allowed its listing, but declined any immediate relief.

Considering that the billboard had already been removed, the High Court denied immediate relief but listed the matter for hearing.

Case: ALL INDIA TRINAMOOL CONGRESS Versus THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL AND ORS. SLP(C) No. 31472/2026