The Supreme Court ordered the transfer of the school-for-jobs case proceedings against Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, pending before Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court, to another judge.
The order was issued by a bench comprising the Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, and Justice PS Narasimha, as Justice Gangopadhyay had given an interview to news channel ABP Ananda about Banerjee while hearing his case.
“Having considered the note prepared by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay in respect of Annexure P7 and also perused the transcript of the interview, the transcript has been authenticated on April 26, 2023 by the interpreting officer on the original side of the High Court, we direct the Hon’ble admin Chief Justice shall reassign the pending proceedings in the case to some other judge of the Calcutta High Court,” the Supreme Court ordered.
The Supreme Court has directed that the judge to whom the school-for-jobs case against Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee is reassigned will be free to hear all related applications.
Banerjee had filed a petition against the Calcutta High Court’s order directing the CBI and ED to investigate his alleged involvement in irregularities in the recruitment of government school staff.
The Supreme Court had previously stayed the April 13 ruling mandating a central agency investigation into Banerjee’s role in the case. Banerjee had claimed that individuals in the custody of the ED and CBI were coerced into implicating him during a public meeting on March 29.
Kuntal Ghosh, another accused in the case, had claimed that investigators were pressuring him to implicate Banerjee. Ghosh was in ED custody until February 2 and in CBI custody from February 20 to February 23.
An appeal was filed alleging that the Calcutta High Court cast “unsubstantiated aspersions” on Abhishek Banerjee and directed the CBI and ED to investigate him, even though he was neither a party to the writ petition nor connected to it.
Banerjee stated in his appeal that Justice Gangopadhyay had disparaged him in an interview with a news channel in September 2020.
The appeal also alleged that the judge made comments about Supreme Court judges who were hearing appeals against his order in the case, after the Supreme Court had previously requested a temporary stay of the High Court’s order directing the CBI and ED to investigate the accused.
Justice Gangopadhyay reportedly asked in open court during a hearing, “Supreme Court judges can do whatever they want? Is this a Zamindari?”
Banerjee moved the Supreme Court, arguing, “The fact that judicial orders passed by the highest court of the land, are not only under scrutiny but criticism in the most cavalier manner by the said Ld. Single Judge, calls for intervention by this Hon’ble Court so as to ensure that the majesty of the Institution is maintained and the faith which a common man deposes in it stands strong.”
During the April 24 hearing of the case, the Supreme Court requested a report from the Calcutta High Court regarding Justice Gangopadhyay’s behavior.
The Supreme Court objected to the judge giving a television interview to a news channel on a pending matter and stated that judges should not engage in such behavior.
The Supreme Court also directed that if a judge involved in a pending case gives a television interview on that matter, they cannot hear the case being discussed. In accordance with the order issued by the Supreme Court, the High Court submitted its report.
