BJP leader Mukul Roy today insisted that the Biswa Bangla logo used by the state government is owned by a company belonging to Abhishek Banerjee, the MP nephew of chief minister Mamata Banerjee and apprised Governor K N Tripathi of the whole matter.
Banerjee had yesterday sent a legal notice to Roy asking him to tender an unconditional apology within 48 hours or else civil and criminal defamation suit would be filed against him. Roy, however, met the Governor and complained to him that two senior state officers ~ home secretary Atri Bhattacharya and MSME and textiles secretary Rajiva Sinha ~ were misleading the people through factually incorrect statements on the ownership of the logo violating service rules.
On 10 November, Roy had claimed at a public meeting that Biswa Bangla was not a government entity and that it was owned by a private company belonging to Banerjee. The day Roy made the allegation and also the next day, the two senior state officials contended that the state government and not any individual, owned the Biswa Bangla brand.
They also claimed the Biswa Bangla Marketing Corporation is a state unit which holds the copyright of the brand created by the chief minister. After the meeting with Tripathi, Roy said, “In the Trademarks Journal published by the Trademarks Authority, Govt of India on 8 May, the Biswa Bangla trade mark is shown to be wholly owned by the chief minister’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee. The application of the government of West Bengal is shown as pending/abandoned.”
Roy further said it was abundantly clear that the Competent Authority under the Trademarks Act and/or Patents Act had not permitted the West Bengal government to use the said logo/mark. “On the contrary, the sole owner, as per records, is Abhishek Banerjee, which has been suppressed by two senior bureaucrats during the Press briefing,” he added.
On the other hand, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking setting up of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the financial transactions of the Biswa Bangla brand has been affirmed today. The petition is being filed in the wake of the controversy triggered by Roy’s “sensational” allegations and subsequent legal notice sent to him by Banerjee. The matter is scheduled to be filed at Calcutta High Court tomorrow.