NEW DELHI: In a special sitting on a Saturday, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud stayed all proceedings of the Calcutta High Court related to a case on caste certificate scam in MBBS admission after two benches of the high court issued conflicting orders.
The bizarre chain of events began after a single bench of Justice Gangopadhyay handed over the probe in the case to the CBI on Wednesday. A division bench of justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar Ganguly stayed the order on the same day. On the following day, Justice Gangopadhyay overruled the stay order of the division bench and directed the central agency to go ahead with the investigation. Justice Gandopadhyay accused Justice Soumen Sen of the division bench of acting in the interest of the West Bengal government. Staying further proceedings in the case, the Supreme Court said it will hear the matter again on Monday.
During the hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBI, said the division bench’s stay order appeared to be without jurisdiction as it was passed without an appeal memo. The West Bengal government told the SC it will appeal the single-judge order directing a CBI probe into the case.