A division bench of Calcutta High Court headed by Justice Subrata Talukdar on Wednesday refused to hear the state government’s petition pleading that seeking setting aside of an order by a single judge bench’s stay on proceedings against Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari and his associate Chanchal Nandi in tarpaulin theft case be set aside.

Justice Subrata Talukdar, who headed the division bench, said according to a Supreme Court ruling, any division bench of the court had no jurisdiction to hear appeals in such cases.

The state will have to move the Supreme Court to challenge the high court order.

On the basis of an FIR, the Contai police had initiated proceedings and Suvendu and others. According to the FIR, Suvendu and his associates had stolen a good quantity of tarpaulin and other articles kept inside the local municipal godown. The tarpaulins had been kept for victims of Cyclone Amphan.

A petition was moved in the high court on Wednesday challenging the Election Commission’s decision to hold bypoll in the Bhawanipore constituency by spending huge government money to give space to Mamata Banerjee.

The division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Rajarshri Bharadwaj asked the EC to file an affidavit in opposition and fixed the case for hearing on November 29.