WB: Calcutta HC dismisses PIL on Biswa Bangla logo against Mamata's nephew

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday dismissed a Public Interest Litigation filed against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee in connection with the latter using the Biswa Bangla logo for personal gains.

The court found no merit in the allegations and also deemed that the petition was not in public interest.

The petition stated that the logo was being used by Abhishek Banerjee for his personal gains.

"The above Writ petitions in the nature of a public interest litigation (PIL) had been filed by two different petitioners, Shamik Dasgupta and Siddhartha Das, through its Advocate Partha Ghosh," said Sanjay Basu, advocate for Abhishek Banerjee.

"The two PIL's were politically motivated and filed at the behest of Mukul Roy against the State of West Bengal and Abhishek Banerjee amongst other parties wherein, the petitioner had alleged wrongful usage of the "Biswa Bangla" trademark by Abhishek Banerjee further alleging that Abhishek Banerjee had unlawfully gained from the usage of such mark," he said.

Earlier, the Chief Minister in the Assembly said that she had created the 'Biswa Bangla' logo and given the state government permission to use it without taking any royalty.

The issue was raked up after BJP leader Mukul Roy at a rally in Kolkata stoked a controversy over the Biswa Bangla trademark . Roy alleged that the chief minister's nephew was the real owner of the most identifiable mark of the state government.