SC takes suo motu cognisance of Calcutta HC's single judge ruling declaring division bench order illegal

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has taken a suo motu cognisance of an unprecedented development in the Calcutta High Court where a single judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay declared a division bench's order as illegal.

The unusual development took place on January 25, a day after after the larger bench stayed Justice Gangopadhyay's direction for a CBI probe into irregularities into MBBS admissions in West Bengal.

Taking a serious view of the matter, a five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose would assemble in a special sitting at 10.30 am on Saturday.

According to the Supreme Court cause list, the bench would take up the suo motu case registered as 'In Re: Orders of Calcutta High Court Dated 24.01.2024 and 25.01.2024 and Ancillary Issues'.

In the order on January 25, Justice Gangopadhyay had termed the division bench order as illegal. The division bench was headed by Justice Soumen Sen and also comprised by Justice Uday Kumar.

The division bench had on January 24 stayed the direction for CBI probe into the matter and held the state government should be allowed to complete its own investigation into the matter.

Subsequently, on January 25, Justice Gangopadhyay said, "It is clear from the order of the division bench that when it was stayed there was neither any memo of appeal nor any impugned order before the court."

He accused Justice Sen of indulging in "misconduct" saying what he has done is "to advance the cause of his personal interest to save some political party in power in this State".

"No rule has been shown to me that an appeal can be preferred and the order can be passed thereon in this High Court without the impugned order and without the memorandum of appeal," the judge said in the written order.

"I have no other option but to ignore the order of the said Division Bench as the order has been passed in continuation of the illegal appeal void ab initio," he added.

Justice Gangopadhyay requested Chief Justice of India to look into the matter also citing an instance when Justice Soumen Sen allegedly called another Justice Amrita Sinha in his chamber and asked her to stop live streaming of a case involving Abhishek Banerjee, TMC MP and nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

"I do not know how a judge, being Justice Soumen Sen, who is under an order of transfer for last more than two years, is acting here as a judge defying the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation (dated 16th September, 2021) from this court to Odisha High Court. Who are the persons behind him, who are saving him from such transfer whereby the order of the Supreme Court Collegium can be ignored while the other Judges have been transferred by the same recommendation," he wrote.

Earlier, on April 13, 2023, Justice Gangopadhyay had ordered the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, investigating the cases, related to recruitment scams in West Bengal, to question Abhishek Banerjee.

On April 28, 2023, the Supreme Court withdrew the case from Justice Gangopadhyay's court for his interview to a TV Channel, saying a judge, dealing with a case, is not supposed to speak his mind to the Press, creating an apprehension of bias.