Kolkata: Justice Amrita Sinha was assigned two cases related to alleged primary recruitment irregularities in the state, as per the notification issued by the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday.
The two cases — Soumen Nandy Vs The State of West Bengal and Ors. and Ramesh Malik and Ors. Vs The State of West Bengal and Ors.— were being heard by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
However, after the Supreme Court on Friday directed the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court T S Sivagnanam to reassign the cases to some other judge, this step was taken.
Chief Justice Sivagnanam on Monday had reportedly asked the office of Justice Gangopadhyay to return the files pertaining to the two cases. Ever since, speculations were rife as to who would be assigned these cases.
On Tuesday, an assignment order issued by the Calcutta High Court was posted on their website that it stated: “The Writ Petitions, all application filed in the writ petitions and any further application/s that may be filed including Review Application/s are assigned to Hon’ble Justice Amrita Sinha.”
On Friday, a report by the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court was submitted and the Supreme Court directed the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to reassign the case to a different judge and cited “the need to preserve public confidence in the administration of justice”.
Later on the same day, Justice Gangopadhyay said that the Apex Court’s directions must be accepted. “A discipline has to be maintained and because the Supreme Court is the highest court of the country, as a high court, we must abide by its directions,” Gangopadhyay said according to a news media agency.