Kolkata: Celebrated as a “crusader in opposition to corruption” by his supporters and criticized for overstepping his temporary by detractors, Calcutta Excessive Court docket decide Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay has discovered himself on the centre of a authorized showdown with the Supreme Court docket following his controversial TV interview about West Bengal’s College Service Recruitment (SSC) case.
A number of leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), together with former schooling minister Partha Chatterjee, have been implicated on this high-profile case.
Within the first of a dramatic collection of occasions Friday, Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud ordered appearing Chief Justice of the Calcutta Excessive Court docket T.S. Sivagnanam to reassign the case — involving alleged irregularities within the appointments of employees in West Bengal government-run faculties — from Justice Gangopadhyay’s bench.
The identical day, a separate prime courtroom bench additionally stayed Justice Gangopadhyay’s order asking the SC secretary normal to current to him the interpretation of the interview’s transcript that was positioned earlier than the CJI.
The highest courtroom orders got here within the wake of a petition filed by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee — the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee — arguing that Justice Gangopadhyay made statements in opposition to him in an interview final September to Bengagli TV information channel ABP Ananda. Final week, the highest courtroom additionally famous that the decide had “no enterprise” chatting with the media concerning the case.
Previous to the stated interview, Justice Gangopadhyay had ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged unlawful appointment of non-teaching and instructing employees by the West Bengal Central College Service Fee (SSC) and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Training. Then, on April 13, he requested the CBI to deliver Abhishek below the ambit of investigation within the case.
This Monday, Justice Sivagnanam reportedly requested Justice Gangopadhyay to return the recordsdata associated to 2 circumstances in opposition to Abhishek within the SSC case.
Whereas the Trinamool Congress has celebrated the Supreme Court docket’s actions, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) has referred to as it “unlucky”.
As he left the premises of the Calcutta Excessive Court docket late Friday evening, Justice Gangopadhyay instructed mediapersons that he had seen the Supreme Court docket’s order, however didn’t intend to again down. “I’m ready for authorized recommendation. However I’ve a sense, like in the present day, all of the corruption circumstances might be moved away from my bench. I cannot step down, I gained’t run away,” he declared.
Authorized consultants, in the meantime, are divided over the flip of occasions.
Retired SC decide Ashok Ganguly instructed ThePrint that the decide shouldn’t have given an interview on a sub-judice matter. Nevertheless, he additionally famous that the Supreme Court docket can’t determine which decide will hear a selected matter in a excessive courtroom.
“Excessive Courts aren’t subordinate to the Supreme Court docket. There are not any provisions below the Structure the place the SC can direct the HC to assign a distinct decide. It’s solely the involved Chief Justice who can determine,” Ganguly stated.
Nonetheless, he added that there are “sure unwritten guidelines” and that Justice Gangopadhyay “shouldn’t have given an interview a few matter he himself is listening to”.
A senior judicial official within the Calcutta Excessive Court docket stated that there was nothing flawed if a decide needed to entry the transcript of his interview positioned earlier than the Supreme Court docket. “All he needed was a duplicate,” the judicial official instructed ThePrint.
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‘An sincere decide with a backbone’
Identified for his sturdy stance in opposition to corruption, Justice Gangopadhyay is commonly described as a “folks’s decide” and has one thing of a fan following in West Bengal.
For example, throughout the Kolkata Worldwide Guide Truthful in January, a big crowd gathered round him whereas he browsed a bookstall. Some requested for selfies, others requested handshakes, and one admirer even referred to as him a “god” for exposing the alleged corruption of the state’s ruling get together.
A graduate of Kolkata’s Hazra Regulation Faculty, Justice Gangopadhyay was appointed as an extra decide of the Calcutta Excessive Court docket in 2018. Two years later, he was posted as a everlasting decide.
Kolkata-based advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who can also be a CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP, instructed ThePrint that Justice Gangopadhyay had at all times stood up in opposition to corruption.
“When an individual really dislikes corruption, the slightest circumstances could be a set off. Justice Gangopadhyay is an sincere decide with a backbone,” stated Bhattacharya, who’s representing the aggrieved job aspirants.
Final 12 months, Justice Gangopadhyay ordered a CBI probe into the alleged SSC rip-off, through which authorities instructing jobs have been purportedly being traded for money. It was this order that led to the arrest of former schooling minister and Trinamool chief Partha Chatterjee.
Subsequently, two different MLAs and numerous Trinamool Congress functionaries have been arrested for allegedly taking bribes. A number of officers who have been on the helm of the Training Board are additionally in jail.
However this isn’t the primary time that Justice Gangopadhyay has made headlines on this matter.
In March 2022, he wrote to the CJI and sought its intervention after an HC division bench stayed his order looking for a CBI probe within the alleged rip-off. Ultimately, 5 judges recused themselves from listening to the matter.
Then final August, whereas listening to the SSC case, he grew to become the primary decide of the Calcutta Excessive Court docket to permit the media to file courtroom proceedings on digital camera, resulting in an outcry from some attorneys, considered one of whom accused him of turning the courtroom right into a “bazaar”.
In September, 5 months after ordering a CBI probe into the alleged SSC rip-off, Justice Gangopadhyay gave his controversial interview to ABP Ananda.
The identical day, a PIL was filed earlier than the Calcutta Excessive Court docket to cease the printed, however then Calcutta HC Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava dismissed the petition. Whereas doing so he had famous that he had “full religion” that the courtroom’s judges would make statements solely in step with the Bangalore Rules of Judicial Conduct — an internationally recognised set of moral tips for judges’ skilled conduct.
In the meantime, Sangeeta Sharma, an aspiring trainer who says she certified for a job however was illegally denied, instructed ThePrint that she was grateful to Justice Gangopadhyay.
“If it wasn’t for Justice Gangopadhyay, the corrupt politicians wouldn’t have been unmasked. He helped the poor get the roles they deserve and eliminated those that cheated and solid reply scripts to get a submit illegally. Our struggle just isn’t over,” she stated.
Combined reactions
Justice Gangopadhyay has not pulled punches in his observations concerning the Trinamool Congress, and has even rebuked the CBI every now and then.
Final November, as an illustration, he stated he may advise the Election Fee to cancel Trinamool’s get together standing and withdraw its brand. This remark got here after the schooling secretary knowledgeable his courtroom that the West Bengal Cupboard determined to create further academics’ posts to “accommodate” those that have been illegally appointed.
Then this February, Justice Gangopadhyay reportedly stated he would “complain” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi concerning the tempo of the CBI’s probe. “What’s CBI doing for the final 10 months?” he had requested.
The SC’s order has invited blended reactions from political events in Bengal.
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee stated the get together “welcomed” the courtroom’s motion.
“Be it the Supreme Court docket, or another courtroom, we have now utmost respect and belief our judicial system. For the reason that matter is sub-judice, I might not prefer to touch upon this, though I actually was the petitioner on this case,” Abhishek instructed a public rally in Jalpaiguri Friday.
“We imagine that within the coming days, folks will get well timed justice. If anybody from the Trinamool Congress is discovered responsible, there have to be a radical probe and the responsible must be punished accordingly,” he added.
The opposition events, nonetheless, have stated they discover the order regrettable. “The folks will perpetually bear in mind the struggle in opposition to corruption led by crusader Justice Gangopadhyay. We can’t converse in opposition to the Supreme Court docket of India however this order may be very unlucky,” West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar stated Friday.
Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury additionally described Justice Gangopadhyay as a “crusader”.
“Justice Gangopadhyay has confirmed himself because the crusader in opposition to corruption,” the Chief of the Congress in Lok Sabha instructed the media Friday. “He has been a blessing for a number of of those that had been denied a job so as to fill (politicians’) pockets.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)
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