A five-judge Bench of Calcutta High Court, hearing an appeal of the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, and state law minister, Moloy Ghatak to accept their affidavits in a matter relating to CBI appeal to transfer a case pertaining to Narada sting operation, will pronounce its decision tomorrow.

The hearing of this appeal has to be completed as soon as possible as otherwise, it would carry a wrong message about the judiciary to the people, Justice IP Mukerji, observed today while hearing an appeal to accept the affidavits.It was observed that hearing of this petition to accept the affidavits has been moving to and fro between the High Court and the apex court, which cannot go on.

Law and order is a state subject, advocate general, Kisor Datta submitted. So, let our petition be accepted. Earlier, Datta submitted that the state is a party in the case of the recent arrest of some Narada accused since 27 May. The CBI has completed its submission on 2 June while the state sought to give the affidavits on 7 June.

He was submitting before the five judges Bench of Calcutta HC following a direction of SC to the high court to hear the matter. The issue of security is within the state’s jurisdiction and so we need to submit the affidavit, the advocate general submitted after acting Chief Justice, Rajesh Bindal asked what prevented the state from giving an affidavit despite being a party in the case from the first day.

We are also opposing the CBI allegation that the state is aiding the four ‘heavyweight accused’ in this matter, it was submitted. The affidavit is necessitated for that reason too. The stipulated time frame of four weeks to give the affidavit is not over, it was submitted. Suppose the hearing is over within four weeks, the acting Chief Justice asked the advocate general, will the affidavit be taken after the completion of the hearing?

The court cannot refuse to accept important information only on grounds of delay, appearing for the chief minister, Rakesh Dwivedi submitted. This is not merely a transfer petition as several important issues are attached to it. This is not a civil matter and the CBI cannot oppose the acceptance of our affidavits, Dwivedi submitted. The chief minister and law minister are not among the accused in this case, Justice Harish Tandon observed. They have been made parties owing to the gathering and agitation, it was further observed.

Why do you object if the state wants to place the information about the incident in the form of an affidavit before the court, Justice Soumen Sen asked the solicitor general Tushar Mehta. The chief minister and the law minister did not place their affidavits during the stipulated time frame, Mehta submitted.