Justice Amrita Sinha of Calcutta High Court on Monday issued an interim order restraining the subdivisional officer (SDO) of Murshidabad's Domkal from holding any meeting to constitute permanent committees for several departments of Raninagar-II panchayat samiti at least till September 20.

The order also instructed the SDO not to allow sthayee samitis (permanent committees) to operate, if such meetings were held meanwhile, till further orders.

The judge passed the order following a petition by the Congress accusing ruling Trinamul of its attempt to form committees forcibly after implicating elected Congress and CPM members in "false criminal cases" with the help of police.

The petitioner also alleged that the president of the panchayat samiti, who is a Congress member, had been taken into custody.

Since high court lawyers did not attend court on Monday to mourn the death of a colleague, detailed proceedings of the case could not take place. But when the petitioner's lawyer informed the court that the SDO had convened a meeting during the day to form permanent committees, the judge issued the order and fixed September 14 to hear the case.

On the court order, Domkal SDO Sumit Kumar Roy refused to comment.

Raninagar has been on the boil since Friday evening after a group of Congress workers clashed with the police in front of the local police station allegedly after cops stopped them from attending a political event being held without permission.

Several Congress workers and three cops were injured in the clash. So far, 36 members of Opposition parties, including Congress chief of Raninagar II panchayat samiti Kuddus Ali, have been arrested in connection with the clash.

Congress state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the police had been putting pressure on Ali to join Trinamul.

"Mamata Banerjee's party even did not want to leave a panchayat samiti in the Opposition's control.... The court is the only saviour for us in this state. Let's wait for the final order from the judiciary. The ruling Trinamul is using its police to make the state absolutely free of Opposition parties," Chowdhury told reporters.

Of the 27 members in the Raninagar II panchayat samiti, 14 are from the CPM-Congress alliance. The ruling Trinamul won 13 seats in the July 8 panchayat polls.

The first meeting to form the sthayee samitis was called on August 26 but postponed for "unknown reasons".

A day after this postponement, a Congress member joined Trinamul. Two more Congress members joined Trinamul on Sunday.

"All this was nothing but to wrest control of the sthayee samitis. That's why Trinamul forced our members to join their party," said a Congress leader.

On Monday, the Trinamul members formed all nine sthayee samitis as no one from the Opposition took part in the process.

"We had completed the formation of nine sthayee samitis of Raninagar-II panchayat samity before the court order. However, as we have respect for the judiciary, we will wait for its verdict," said Soumik Hossain, Trinamul MLA from Raninagar.

He refuted allegations of forcing Opposition members to switch over to Trinamul.