Supreme Court stays Calcutta HC judge's direction to top court Secretary General
Apr 28, 2023
New Delhi [India], April 28 : In a special bench hearing on Friday evening, the Supreme Court stayed the Calcutta High Court judge's order asking the Secretary General of the top court to present an official translation of an interview transcript before him.
A bench of justices A S Bopanna and Justice Hima Kohli took suo motu cognisance and held a special bench hearing against the Calcutta HC order at around 8 pm on Friday.
The top court stayed the order passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court and observed that such an order should not have been passed in judicial proceedings keeping in view the judicial discipline. The court was assisted by the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court has passed an order directing the Secretary General of the Supreme Court to present before him the translation of his interview placed before the bench headed by the Chief Justice of India.
The top court directed the Secretary General of SC to communicate this order to the Registrar General of Calcutta HC forthwith.
The top court also clarified that no further proceedings are needed in this case.
Earlier on Friday, the apex court directed the Calcutta High Court's acting Chief Justice to reassign proceedings related to irregularities in the recruitment of staff in schools in West Bengal to other judge and clarified that Calcutta HC judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay could not hear the matter taking note of the transcript given by the judge to a news channel.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had noted the transcript of the interview that the Calcutta HC judge gave to a news channel.
The court directed the Calcutta High Court's Acting Chief Justice to reassign proceedings related to irregularities in the recruitment of staff in schools in West Bengal to another judge.
The court was hearing Abhishek Banerjee's plea challenging Calcutta High Court's order directing investigating agencies to question Abhishek Banerjee in a matter pertaining to irregularities in the recruitment of staff in schools in West Bengal.
The court was informed in the last hearing that a sitting Calcutta HC judge has given an interview on a TV channel.
The petitioner has annexed a translated transcript of an interview with Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on a TV Channel.
Therefore the top court has directed the Registrar General of Calcutta High Court to clarify from the judge whether he had been interviewed and file an affidavit in this regard before it.
Earlier the Supreme Court has stayed till further direction the Calcutta High Court's order, which directed investigating agencies to question Abhishek Banerjee.
Calcutta High Court had said that Abhishek Banerjee can be questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) concerning irregularities in the recruitment of staff in schools in West Bengal.
