W. Bengal Teachers Recruitment Scam: Case Reassigned to Justice Amrita Sinha

The Calcutta High Court has reassigned the petitions relating to the school recruitment scam involving Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, to Justice Amrita Sinha.

A notification was issued by the High Court in this regard.

“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 Justice Amrita Sinha,” the notification reads.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha of the Supreme Court had passed an order on April 28 to reassign the case to another judge in light of Justice Gangopadhyay’s interview with news channel ABP Ananda regarding Banerjee while the case involving the TMC leader was being heard by him.

The Apex Court stated in its order,

“Having considered the note prepared by Justice Gangopadhyay and also perused the transcript of the  interview, the transcript has been authenticated on April 26, 2023 by the interpreting officer on the original side of the High Court, we direct the admin Chief Justice shall reassign the pending proceedings in the case to some other judge of the Calcutta High Court.”

The judge to whom the proceedings are reassigned would be free to hear all applications filed in that regard, it added.

The order was passed in response to Banerjee’s petition challenging the High Court’s order directing the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate him.

The Supreme Court had previously stayed the April 13 judgment ordering a central agency investigation into Banerjee’s alleged role in irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff at government schools.

Banerjee claimed during a public meeting on March 29 that people in ED and CBI custody were pressured into naming him as a suspect in the case.

Following that, another accused in the case, Kuntal Ghosh, claimed that investigators were pressuring him to take Banerjee’s name. Ghosh was detained by the ED after his arrest until February 2, and then by the CBI from 20 to 23 February.

An appeal was filed, alleging that the High Court cast “unsubstantiated aspersions” on Banerjee and effectively directed the CBI and ED to launch an investigation into him despite the fact that he was neither a party nor connected to the writ petition under consideration.

In his petition, Banerjee also stated that Justice Gangopadhyay, who passed the order, had expressed his dislike for the TMC leader in an interview given to a news channel last September.

It was also claimed that the judge made disparaging remarks about Supreme Court justices who were hearing appeals of his order in the case. This came after the Supreme Court had previously requested an interim stay on the High Court’s order authorizing CBI and ED investigations into the accused.

Interestingly, after the Supreme Court reassigned the case on April 28, Justice Gangopadhyay issued an order to the Supreme Court Secretary General the same day, requesting that he produce the report and official transcript of the interview.

The Supreme Court was then forced to convene late at night to stay that order.