SC directs transfer of recruitment scam case from bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay

New Delhi/Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Friday evening put on hold an order by a judge of the Calcutta High Court, who had asked for documents on being removed from a case. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had ordered the Supreme Court’s top official to produce before him the documents that led to his removal from a high-profile teachers’ recruitment case in West Bengal. His removal was triggered by a TV interview he gave in which he commented on cases he was hearing, raising questions on propriety and the impartiality of the judge.

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who was hearing petitions related to an alleged scam in the recruitment of teachers in the state, was asked to be replaced by another judge earlier in the day after a bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud took note of a report by the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court on the interview to a news channel.

Hearing an appeal, the Supreme Court asked the Acting 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”.

However, hours later in suo motu proceedings, Justice Gangopadhyay called for the official transcript of the interview from the Supreme Court Registrar General to be placed before him, by 12:15 am.

Justice Gangopadhyay further told the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court to communicate this order forthwith to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court so that “those two sets in original, which were before the Hon’ble Judges today, can be placed before me as this has become now records of the court as the adjudication thereof is over.”

In light of the same, a bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli noted that the order by the High Court was improper and against judicial discipline. The Court, in a rare 8 pm hearing, directed its Secretary General that Justice Gangopadhyay be conveyed the top court’s order.

“The order of present nature ought not to have been passed in judicial proceeding keeping in view the judicial discipline. We hereby stay the order passed by the High Court judge in the suo motu proceeding.

We direct the Secretary General of Supreme Court to communicate this order to the Registrar General of Calcutta High Court forthwith who shall communicate the same to the High Court judge,” the apex court said in its order.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who appeared before the bench also agreed that such an order should not have been passed by the High Court judge.