Supreme Court Declines Interim Relief To Trinamool Congress Over Kolkata Office Nameboard Removal

The Supreme Court refused to grant any interim relief against the steps taken by the West Bengal Government in purporting to remove the nameboard of Trinamool Congress situated at Camac Street, Kolkata.

The Court was hearing a Special Leave Petition filed by the Trinamool Congress, assailing the order passed by the Calcutta High Court refusing to grant any interim relief and observing that restoring the nameboard at an interim stage would amount to granting the final relief itself.

The Court asked TMC and owners of the building to raise the issue before the High Court.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana ordered, "We have heard the Petitioners...In our considered opinion, the interim order dated 28th August 2026 has not decided pending issues on merits. Since the High Court is seized of the matter, and there are merely tentative observations made in certain paragraphs of the order, the parties are granted liberty to raise their respective contentions before the High Court. We request the High Court to determine all the issues that may arise for consideration expeditiously."

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for TMC, while Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the State.

Sibal submitted, "It is my building...it is operating there. I have an office there; naturally, I will put my Congress board."

Sibal averred that no notice for removal was given to the Petitioner. He argued that under Article 226, the High Court should have examined whether notice was served rather than dismissing the cause of action simply because the board had been taken down.

"This is a registered political party, I have my name on it, they don't remove Haldiram but they removed my name without any notice to me", Sibal submitted.

He suggested that the bench remand the matter back to the High Court to decide these specific issues, provided the interim order did not stand in the way.

It was the case of TMC that the Municipal authorities proceeded to pass an order and execute the same in extraordinary haste. It was submitted before the High Court that when the writ petition was filed, the order by then had already been executed.

The High Court had observed, "I also note that on the basis of the submissions made by the petitioner’s learned Senior Advocate that the petitioner’s nameboard has already been removed, as such, in my view, there is no scope to afford any interim protection to the petitioner at this stage. Though the petitioner would insist for restoration of the nameboard, I find that it is too premature to seek for such a prayer. The same would tantamount to granting of a final relief at an interim stage which is not permissible in law."

Clarifying that any observations made in that order were strictly tentative, the Supreme Court granted all parties liberty to raise their respective contentions before the High Court and requested the High Court to determine all issues expeditiously.

Cause Title: All India Trinamool Congress v. The State of West Bengal & Ors. [SLP(C) No. 31472/2026]