Calcutta, Dec. 3: After the dawn-to-dusk bandh, Mamata Banerjee tonight began preparing for a tough legal battle with the high court, which had ordered her to call off the shutdown.

Convinced that her defiance of the court ? evident from her refusal to accept its summons, sent to her home and party office, and order to take out newspaper advertisements announcing the abandoning of the strike ? would invite strictures, Mamata asked party managers to be ready to face a contempt plea.

?We are ready to fight a legal battle if and when the court initiates contempt proceedings against our chairperson,? said Arunava Ghosh, a party MLA and Calcutta High Court advocate.

He said it was obvious that the division bench of Justices Pratap Kumar Roy and Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya would initiate contempt proceedings against Mamata for not complying with their order.

?First, we will challenge the validity of the All India Minority Forum?s petition, which is based on false documents. We will also challenge the authority of the division bench to pass an order without vacating the order of another division bench of the court, which had dismissed a similar petition in 2003,? Ghosh added.

The court had banned today?s bandh following a petition by the forum. The case will be heard again on December 7.

Legal experts anticipate that the special bench dealing with bandh cases would take stern action against Trinamul and its chairperson for disobeying its order.

?Though the court has said it will go the distance to stop bandhs, it will have to follow certain norms. The court will have to ask Mamata and her party to show cause why its order has not been carried out,? said senior lawyer Subroto Mukherjee.

After what she called a ?successful? bandh, Mamata unveiled a string of programmes, including law violation on December 22, that will be concluded at a rally at Brigade Parade Grounds in February.

?I am grateful to people for their spontaneous response to the bandh, called to protest against certain anti-people measures by the Centre and the state. People on their own stayed away from office and work as a mark of protest,? Mamata said.

She refused comment on the court case, saying the party did not receive any papers from it regarding the bandh.