NEW DELHI: Judges have no business giving interviews to media on pending cases, Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud remarked on Monday as the court sought clarification from justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a sitting judge in the Calcutta High Court, through the Registrar General on his interview to a news channel about a case being heard by him
“Judges have no business granting interviews to news channels on matters pending. If this is true, he cannot hear this case anymore. If he has done so, then he cannot participate anymore. We will not touch the investigation but when a judge gives an opinion on the petitioner on a TV debate then he cannot hear it. The HC chief then has to constitute a new bench. But this is a case about a political personality and we entertained this on the way the judge handled this matter,” the CJI said.
He added that although the court was not going into the merits of the case where the Calcutta HC directed the CBI to probe the role of TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in the alleged recruitment scam as of now, it was imperative to know if the said interview was given by the judge or not.
The CJI made the remarks while considering a plea by Banerjee against Calcutta HC’s order directing to take Kuntal Ghosh, a suspended TMC leader, into custody, and asking the CBI and the ED to question Banerjee in Primary Teacher’s recruitment scam case.
Not only Banerjee but even the West Bengal government approached the Supreme Court against the Calcutta HC’s order directing the CBI to probe into alleged irregularities in the Municipal recruitment on ED’s plea. The HC on April 22 after taking note of ED’s finding during its probe in the school jobs for bribes scam had directed the CBI to investigate.
For Banerjee, Senior Abhishek Singhvi requested the court to take note of the interview given by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay to ABP Ananda wherein the judge allegedly spoke against Banerjee. “This is a little unprecedented. This is with the greatest humility and respect and just not done. This was said in presence of our lawyers. The single judge has not clarified or revoked the statement.” SC last Monday stayed the Calcutta HC’s order that directed the CBI and the ED to question Banerjee in the teacher’s recruitment scam case.
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