SC withdraws teacher recruitment scam petitions from Calcutta HC judge for speaking to the media about petitioner

TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee had filed a special leave petition at the Supreme Court against Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay's order earlier this month directing the CBI and the ED to investigate Banerjee in relation to the teacher recruitment scam. In an interview given last year, Justice Gangopadhyay had said that he wanted to take action against Banerjee for making comments against the judiciary. 

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ON Friday, a division Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice P.S. Narasimha withdrew from Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court, all petitions concerning the teacher recruitment scam at both the West Bengal Central School Service Commission and the West Bengal Board of Primary Education. The Bench requested the Acting Chief Justice of the high court to assign the matter to another judge of the high court.

The Bench passed the order after going through the translated transcript of the interview given by Justice Gangopadhyay in September last year to a Bengali television news channel regarding the scam, filed by the petitioner, All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) National General Secretary and Parliamentarian Abhishek Banerjee.

On April 24, the Bench had directed the Registrar General of the high court to personally verify from Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay as to whether he had given that interview. It had also observed that a judge had no business giving interviews to the media on matters pending before them.

It clarified that the parties would be at liberty to file appropriate applications before the judge to be assigned by the Acting Chief Justice.

During the hearing today, Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta sought to submit that there was a pattern of intimidating and threatening judges going on in West Bengal. He added that a group of lawyers had barged into the courtroom of Justice Gangopadhyay with placards last year. Mehta submitted that the Supreme Court's decision should not send a wrong signal that judges could be cowed down.

CJI Dr Chandrachud clarified that the Bench was passing the order only for the reason that the judge concerned gave an interview to the media regarding the matter. Regarding the browbeating of a judge, he said he would take up the issue on the administrative side.

The Bench was hearing a special leave petition filed by Banerjee against the order passed by Justice Gangopadhyay on April 13 directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) to investigate Banerjee in relation to the scam.

Justice Gangopadhyay had also directed that no police station would lodge any first information report pertaining to any complaint made to it in respect of any officer of the CBI or the ED who are investigating the said scam.

Justice Gangopadhyay acted against Banerjee after the latter delivered a speech on March 29 wherein, he urged some persons to support him by saying that when those persons were in custody, the police or the interrogating agencies pressured them to implicate him, as per the order dated April 13. After the speech by Banerjee, TMC leader Kuntal Ghosh, who is an accused in the alleged scam, made a complaint to the CBI and the Hastings Police Station that the investigating agencies were trying to force him to name Banerjee.

Justice Gangopadhyay found proximity between the speech delivered by Banerjee and the complaint made by Ghosh.

"This matching tune raises a serious doubt in my mind as to a tacit understanding between them as when this Kuntal was selling school teachers job both Kuntal and Abhishek were in the same political party," Justice Gangopadhyay had observed. He had thus directed that no effect shall be given to the complaint made by Ghosh.

On April 17, the Supreme Court stayed the action against Banerjee in pursuance of the directions issued by Justice Gangopadhyay. On Monday, the Bench led by CJI Dr Chandrachud expressed its displeasure at Justice Gangopadhyay speaking to the media on a matter being heard by him.

The CJI had made it clear then that if Justice Gangopadhyay had participated in the interview, he could not hear the scam case and a different Bench would have had to take up the matter, which is what it ended up ordering today.

In his interview, Justice Gangopadhyay had said that he wanted to take action against Banerjee for making comments against the judiciary.

"[Banerjee] once commented on the judiciary. I was not in Kolkata then. I was in Ladakh. Sitting there, I thought I will issue a rule against him. I will summon him. I will take action after that. But back in Kolkata, I found that a petition was filed in the division Bench in this regard. The division Bench did not consider the issue. They thought he would get extra importance. But, I have a different opinion," Justice Gangopadhyay had said in the interview in September last year, according to the Indian Express.