Following a dispute amongst judges, the SC suspends all proceedings before two benches of the Calcutta High Court

GG News Bureau

New Delhi, 27th Jan. After two benches in the Calcutta high court observed an extraordinary altercation between two judges, a five-judge Supreme Court bench decided to halt all ongoing proceedings, noting that the court’s action was necessary given the current course of events.

Even though the division bench annulled the probe decision, the top court also postponed the single judge’s directive for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the allegations of a false caste certificate scam.

The bench, led by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, declared, “We have taken charge now…this order will suffice the interest of justice for the time being,” as it began the proceedings drawn on its own move in a special hearing on Saturday.

The West Bengal government and the CBI received notifications from the bench, which also included the four most senior members, justices Sanjiv Khanna, Bhushan R. Gavai, Surya Kant, and Aniruddha Bose. The notices asked for responses by January 29, when the court will rehearse the case. “All proceedings in the writ petition before the single judge and the appeal before the division bench in the Calcutta high court shall be suspended pending further orders of this court. The bench stated in its judgment that the sole judge’s directive for January 24 and 25 would likewise remain stayed.\

It also sent notice to the person who filed the writ petition in the high court, based on whose argument the single judge had ordered the CBI to look into the claimed fraud on January 24. However, this order set up an unprecedented judicial spectacle in which the single judge accused the chief division bench judge of having political influence, leaving the state administration and the CBI in a state of disarray over inconsistent orders.

The state government, represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, informed the bench during the brief hearings on Saturday that the state has also filed an appeal against the sole judge’s order directing the CBI investigation and that it should be considered on January 29 along with the suo motu proceedings. Sunil Fernandes and senior attorney Huzefa Ahmadi both represented the state in the case. The Union government, represented by solicitor general (S-G) Tushar Mehta and attorney general R Venkataramani, sought the court to also consider the judicial propriety of the order given by the division bench on January 24, even though the bench decided to list the state’s appeal. The law officers drew attention to the fact that the division bench chose to postpone the single judge’s order without the state government filing an official appeal. Mehta claims that the Supreme Court’s 1985 ruling made it abundantly evident that a larger bench cannot overturn an order in the absence of a proper appeal document.

The bench answered, “We’ll save everything for later. At this point, we don’t want to even establish a prima facie case. There are extraordinary situations occasionally, but we don’t want to discuss them just now.” The S-G was allowed to submit a note on the procedural aspect by the court.

Senior attorney Abhishek Manu Singhvi informed the court at one point during the hearing that he was representing TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who had filed an application bringing some controversial remarks made by the single judge in issue to the court’s attention. According to Singhvi, his client will be submitting a new writ petition in this respect.

The larger bench of the high court finally declared the single judge’s orders void ab initio (legally void from the start) on Thursday, quashing a FIR that the CBI had filed in accordance with the single judge’s directive. On Wednesday and Thursday, the two benches of the court passed contradictory orders on a petition alleging corruption in the admission of students at medical colleges using fake caste certificates.

Later on Thursday, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s single-judge bench took aim at Justice Soumen Sen, the leader of the division bench, directly, noting in his decision that the latter was behaving under a political party’s command.

“Justice Sen is acting clearly for some political party in the state and, therefore, the orders passed in the matters involving the state, are required to be relooked if the Hon’ble Supreme Court thinks so,” stated justice Gangopadhyay.

The high court case began on Wednesday when Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s single bench ordered the CBI to look into claims made by Itisha Soren, the writ petitioner, that certificates belonging to reserved caste candidates were issued and used for admission to medical colleges. Justice Gangopadhyay stated that even if Soren did not request a CBI investigation, the court must nonetheless issue an appropriate order for a comprehensive investigation into the matter when a scam is beginning to show signs of suspicion. This is true whether or not the petitioner for the writ has asked for a CBI investigation.

The judge went on to say that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) may intervene if there is proof of a money trail and that the special investigation team (SIT), which was established by another order of his court to look into an alleged scam involving the hiring of teachers in the state, will look into the current case.

Justice Gangopadhyay also criticized the state police for failing to apprehend the accused in an attack on ED officials at Sandeshkhali when officials went to search the premises of Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh in connection with an alleged ration distribution scam case in the state’s North 24 Parganas district. Justice Datta had brought documents to his bench, and he directed that they be turned over to the CBI.