The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday stayed the legal proceedings against Kalyan Banerjee, an adovcate and Trinamool MP from Serampore, in a defamation suit pending against him in the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court for his alleged derogatory remarks against CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

Justice Asim Roy directed that the proceedings be stayed in the defamation suit that had been filed against the Trinamool MP on May 4 by Mridul De, a CPM state committee member, who alleged that Banerjee had made derogatory remarks against Bhattacharjee in an interview to a private TV channel. After a hearing, S S Anand, the chief metropolitan magistrate, issued summons against Banerjee and the TV channel for appearance in the next hearing fixed on August 12, 2009.