Subrata joins Mamata-Manna club, attacks judiciary

On a day when Calcutta High Court gave a relief to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by not issuing contempt plea proceedings for her remarks on the alleged corruption in judiciary, her senior minister Subrata Mukherjee on Tuesday stoked fresh row by accusing the judiciary of attempting to "run the government" and echoed what his party boss had said by saying "good justice" was now available against "good money".

Addressing a rally of Singur Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee, Panchayat Minister said: "There are some ill effects of parliamentary politics. Today it is seen on some occasions that courts tried to rule the state without looking at something from legal point of view. Not the judiciary, it is the government which will rule the state. If a decision is taken without adhering to legal points, the court can of course intervene. But there is a separate wing to run the state and it is the government and not the judiciary," Mukherjee said.

"Where is real justice? Now it seems that now good money can bring good justice," the minister said and went on to add: "Suppose a common man goes to the court for protecting his right. If he cannot hire a lawyer by paying him Rs 10 lakh he will have to suffer a loss. On the other hand, crorepatis like Tatas, Birlas and Dalmiyas can win in court by appointing advocates by paying them in crores. So where is real justice," Mukherjee asked.

Not unknown to the fact that his controversial remark could have legal implications, Mukherjee said: "I know that I can be called by the judiciary for saying this and said his cabinet colleague Becharam Manna was also taken to the court for "raising voice for landless Singur farmers". He, however, added that he was neither "attacking anyone" not "showing arrogance", but creating "social awareness".

Interestingly, Manna today appeared before the Calcutta High Court in connection with a contempt rule issued against him for alleging High Court judges who scrapped the Singur land reclamation law as being loyal to the CPM and Tata Motors.

With the ocassion being the sixth death anniversary of Tapasi Malik, whose charred body was found inside the disputed land acquired for Tata Motors car factory in Singur, Mukherjee said: "Will justice remain a distant dream?" referring to the bail granted to two accused CPM leaders — Debu Malik and Suhrid Dutta.

He also did not spare the CPM for "spreading false campaign against the new government". "If you do not have faith on Mamata, who will you depend upon? Will you keep faith on paagal (mad) Buddha (former Chief Minister Buddha Bhattacharjee) or on naatuke (dramatist) Gautam (former housing minister Gautam Deb) or judh (a war) Biman (Left Front chairman Biman Bose) ? Those who have lost confidence should stay away from Singur as they might spoil the others who are still fighting to get back their land," Mukherjee said.

Today's rally was attended by a host of ministers including Purnendu Bose, Firhad Hakim, Becharam Manna and Madan Mitra.

Will enact new law if SC scraps Singur land Act: Minister

Labour Minister

Purnendu Bose on Tuesday said the Trinamool Congress government would enact a new law if its present Singur land reclamation law is declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. "If the present law is validated by the Supreme Court, then Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will enact a new law to return the (400 acres) to 'unwilling' farmers. If the Supreme Court finds some loopholes in the Singur law and orders the state government to plug them, we will do it accordingly," he told the rally.

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