KOLKATA: In a sharply critical order dealing a blow to the Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT)’s decision to transfer the hearing of former chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay’s case of alleged misconduct to Delhi, the Calcutta High Court on Friday said the “entire modus operandi” adopted by the Union of India “reeks of mala fides”.
Setting aside the CAT order, the high court directed that the hearing of the case would be conducted at CAT’s Kolkata unit.
“It is unfortunate that the Principal Bench of the CAT nurtured such efforts by passing the impugned transfer order, thereby paying obeisance to the diktat of the Union of India, which has been repeatedly held by the Supreme Court and various High Courts not to be a favoured litigant,” the judgment said.
“Rather, the responsibility of meting out justice and serving the cause of justice is on a much higher pedestal for the Union of India than an ordinary individual litigant,’’ the high court observed.
Bandopadhyay moved the high court challenging the CAT’s order of transferring his case of alleged misconduct.
He alleged that he was being harassed on the charge that he had not attended a meeting of PM Narendra Modi at an air force base on May 28 to assess the damage caused by a cyclone.
The HC directed the Kolkata bench of CAT to decide the case on an expedite basis. The court further observed that such an action even by a quasi-judicial authority ‘leaves a bad taste in the mouth’ and also pose a threat to the federal structure as envisioned by the makers of the Constitution.
Earlier, replying to a show cause notice slapped by the Centre asking why action should not be taken against him for not attending the meeting with the PM, Bandopadhyay had said he was accompanying Mamata Banerjee and went by the instructions of the state chief minister to whom he reported.