KOLKATA: The five-judge bench of Calcutta High Court on Monday adjourned the hearing of Narada tape case till Tuesday. On Friday, the five judge-bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, Justice I P Mukerji, Justice Harish Tandon, Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Arijit Banerjee, granted interim bail to two Cabinet ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee along with Trinamool Congress MLA Madan Mitra and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee arrested by CBI in connection with the Narada tape case on a personal bond of Rs 2 lakh and two sureties each.
The five-judge bench was scheduled to hear the matter at 11 am on Monday. Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta told the bench that a Covid matter was going on in Supreme Court and urged whether the matter can be taken up at 2 pm. The Bench agreed. When the hearing started at 2 pm, Advocate General Kishore Dutta objected to the hearing.
He argued that the proceeding cannot have been heard by a Division Bench. As it does not have jurisdiction as per Apellate Rules or Letters Patent to hear this matter. The matter should have gone to a single judge. Acting Chief Justice Bindal told Advocate General Dutta he cannot dictate terms on how the court should hear a matter. Supporting him, Justice Tandon, said: "When the matter comes before us, we cannot go back. We will judge the matter first and then you will question whether we have the authority to hear the matter. "
The documents, which were supposed to be send by CBI to the lawyers of the accused, were not sent due to technical glitches. Hence, the court was adjourned. The matter will be heard at 11. 30 am on Tuesday.