The Calcutta High Court Bar Association has said that its members will not enter the courtroom of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay till he apologises to advocate Prosenjit Mukherjee, who he held guilty of contempt of court for allegedly showing an Order of a division Bench.
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ON Monday, the Calcutta High Court Bar Association passed a resolution urging the Chief Justice of the high court to withdraw judicial work from Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay after he sent an advocate to civil prison from open court.
Justice Gangopadhyay had declared the advocate, Prosenjit Mukherjee, guilty of contempt of court.
Bar members have also decided not to enter the courtroom of Justice Gangopadhyay till he apologised to Mukherjee.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Justice of the high court, T.S. Sivagnanam, the Bar association said that it had passed a unanimous resolution in this regard “after the extreme insult meted out to advocate Prosenjit Mukherjee”.
Mukherjee was declared guilty of contempt of court merely for showing Justice Gangopadhyay an Order of a division Bench that had modified an Order passed by Justice Gangopadhyay.
“Even without [passing] any Order, Mukherjee was taken into custody from the courtroom without giving [him] any opportunity of hearing,” the association’s letter states.
Meanwhile, a division Bench of the high court assembled late yesterday evening after advocate Mukherjee sent a letter to the court assailing the Order passed by Justice Gangopadhyay.
The division Bench’s Order reveals that Mukherjee was representing the West Bengal Madrasah Service Commission wherein an Order was passed to give the respondent an appointment on compassionate grounds in an aided madrasah.
The said Order was assailed by the said commission before the division Bench and by an Order passed on November 23, 2023, the said Order passed by the single judge was modified on the prayer of the beneficiary of the said Order that her appointment should be made in an unaided madrasah but near to her residence as she was a widow having an eight-year-old child.
According to advocate Mukherjee, when the contempt application was being heard by Gangopadhyay, the Order of the division Bench was handed over, but in the spur of the moment and without any reasonable cause or ground having been shown, he was sent into custody for three days.
Staying the arrest Order, Justices Harish Tandon and Hiranmay Bhattacharyya observed that the lawyers assist the court and bring true and correct facts touching or concerning issues before the court, as is expected from such a noble profession.
“The reliance upon the Order of the division Bench cannot be perceived as a contumacious act nor would it tarnish the majesty and sanctity of the court,” the division Bench observed.
The Bench also noted that it had no occasion to go into the text of the Order passed by Justice Gangopadhyay since a mandamus had been listed based on a letter written by Mukherjee vividly reflecting the happening of the events and the Orders being passed.
The Bench also underlined that Mukherjee had been harshly affected as he was taken into custody, though for a brief period.
It is not the first time that Justice Gangopadhyay has found himself in the middle of a controversy.
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court had withdrawn petitions concerning the alleged teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal from Justice Gangopadhyay for giving an interview to the media last year in which he had expressed displeasure at certain comments made about the judiciary by All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary and parliamentarian Abhishek Banerjee, and warned that he would rule against Banerjee in relation to the scam.
Hours after this Order, Justice Gangopadhyay had passed a suo motu Order directing the secretary general of the Supreme Court to produce before him the official translation of the interview given by him which was sent to the Supreme Court by the registrar general of the high court and relied upon by the Supreme Court for its ruling.
In his Order, Justice Gangopadhyay had directed the secretary general of the Supreme Court to comply with his Order by midnight that day and said that he would be waiting in his chamber till 12:15 a.m. to get the original copies of the documents placed before the Supreme Court.
Later in the evening that day, at around 8 p.m., a division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices A.S. Bopanna and Hima Kohli stayed the Order by Justice Gangopadhyay.
In its Order, the Bench opined that such an order “ought not to have been passed in a judicial proceeding, more so keeping in view the judicial discipline expected to be maintained”.
