SC stays Calcutta HC proceedings in reserved category certificate case
NEW DELHI: In a special sitting convened on Saturday, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dr DY Chandrachud, stayed all the proceedings before the Calcutta High Court in the case where a single bench defied a stay order passed by a division bench.
The Apex Court had yesterday took Suo moto cognizance of the unusual and bizarre developments in the Calcutta High Court. A rare conflict has broken between a single judge & a division bench of the HC, over a CBI probe into an alleged fake caste certificate scam. The two benches reproached each other in back-to-back orders on Jan 24 and 25.
The conflict happened between Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on one side and Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar Ganguly on the other.
"We will stay further proceedings. We are issuing notice to the State of West Bengal and the original petitioner before the HC. We will list the proceeding on Monday again. We will stay all further proceedings in the writ petition and the Letters Patent Appeal and the implementation of the single bench order referring the investigation to CBI," said the bench, also comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant, and Aniruddha Bose.
The top court also allowed the filing separately of a special leave petition separately against the orders of Justice Gangopadhyay during the course of the day.
Justice Kant joined the proceedings through video conferencing as he was out of the station to attend an event.
The matter pertains to a Calcutta High Court judge defying a division bench order of quashing of an FIR -- ordered by him earlier -- in the alleged irregularities in MBBS admissions in the state.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the West Bengal government, said the state is also filing an appeal against the initial single bench order for CBI enquiry. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the high court's division bench's order appeared to be without jurisdiction as the stay order was passed by it without an appeal memo.
"I am more concerned about passing an order without an appeal memo or any impugned order in place. This court had under Article 141 prohibited the same. I am not here defending either a single judge or division bench order," Mehta said and sought permission for the CBI to file a note in this regard.
After dictating the order, the bench said, "We will take this up on Monday, We have taken charge now. "
A single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Thursday held that the order passed by the division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar as wholly illegal and has to be ignored.
The single bench had on Wednesday directed a CBI investigation saying it had no faith in the state police on a plea filed by MBBS candidate Itisha Soren alleging irregularities in the admissions of candidates in medical colleges and hospitals under the reservation category.
The West Bengal government on Thursday moved the division bench of the high court, which then ordered an interim stay on the single-bench order.
Subsequently, Justice Gangopadhyay took up the matter the same day and asked the Advocate General how without the impugned order an order of stay can be passed by a division bench and how an order be passed when there was no memo of appeal.
"I have no other option but to ignore the order of the said Division Bench as the order has been passed in continuation of the illegal appeal void ab initio. I have ignored the said illegal order passed by the said Division Bench for the reasons as has been stated above including the ground of 'interested person' Hon'ble Justice Soumen Sen. Thus, Justice Sen is acting clearly for some political party in this State and, therefore, the orders passed in the matters involving State, are required to be relooked if the Hon'ble Supreme Court thinks so," Justice Gangopadhyay said.
He also said what Justice Sen has done is to advance the cause of his personal interest to save some political party in power in this state.
Therefore, his actions clearly tantamount to misconduct, he said.
"I do not know how a judge, being Justice Soumen Sen, who is under an order of transfer for last more than two years, is acting here as a Judge defying the Supreme Court Collegium's recommendation (dated September 16, 2021) from this court to Orissa High Court. Who are the persons behind him, who are saving him from such transfer whereby the order of the Supreme Court Collegium can be ignored while the other Hon'ble judges have been transferred by the same recommendation?" Justice Gangopadhyay said in his order.
(With inputs from PTI)