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Bengal govt lawyers boycott Calcutta HC judge for ‘insults’, spark row
Justice Samapti Chatterjee was hearing a petition by the BJP over its recent no-confidence motion against the TMC-led board of Bengal’s Bongaon municipality when additional government pleader, Bhaskar Vaisya said government lawyers have decided to boycott her court.
Bengal government lawyers triggered a massive controversy on Monday after telling a Calcutta High Court judge that they have decided to boycott her court for repeated insults, prompting the opposition BJP to accuse the ruling Trinamool Congress of trying to subjugate the judiciary and undermine the Constitution.
West Bengal’s additional government pleader, Bhaskar Vaisya said government lawyers have decided to boycott Justice Samapti Chatterjee’s court because of some caustic comments against the state government.
“She has repeatedly insulted the state government and its advocates, including the advocate general,” said Vaisya, who is also head of the Trinamool Congress (TMC)’s legal cell. He said that they have written to the chief justice of the high court about their decision and copies of the letter were sent to the governor, chief minister and law minister.
Justice Chatterjee was expected to deliver a verdict on a petition filed by the BJP over its recent no-confidence motion against the TMC-led board of Bengal’s Bongaon municipality. Instead, she asked 11 BJP councillors to file separate affidavits on the incidents in Bongaon on July 16, when they were allegedly prevented from entering the building.
Vaisya did not specify which comments of the judge had angered the government lawyers so much. But the by the state government’s legal eagles to stay away from Justice Chatterjee’s court triggered intense controversy.
BJP Bengal unit vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said, “This has never happened anywhere in the country. The state government is not only anti-democratic, but is also trying to subjugate the judiciary, and therefore, trying to undermine the Constitution itself. This government has no right to continue in power.”
“Had this been in some other court, steps would have been taken against the lawyers (for boycotting the court),” said BJP leader Mukul Roy.
Former Kolkata mayor and senior advocate Bikash Bhattacharya said the government lawyers’ decision will lead to a constitutional crisis.
“Lawyers representing individual litigants sometime do such things (boycotting a judge). But the government is a constitutional body. A constitutional crisis is being created in this way. Today they are saying they will boycott a certain judge, tomorrow they will adopt the same stance against someone else. The TMC is trying to intimidate the court,” said Bhattacharya, who is also a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The Congress said the showdown was undesirable.
“Such confrontation between the government and the judiciary is completely undesirable. There is always an opportunity for appeal if the verdict is not satisfactory. Remedies against grievances are built into the system,” Congress leader in the Assembly Manoj Chakraborty said.
On July 16, there was a prolonged face-off between the police, TMC supporters and BJP councillors at the Bongaon municipality. Nine BJP councillors alleged that they were locked on the ground floor of the civic body building, while two others said they were not allowed to enter it to cast their vote of no-confidence at a meeting scheduled to begin at 3 pm that day.
The TMC Chairman, on the other hand, claimed that they had waited for the BJP members to turn up, but in vain. Thereafter, 10 councillors (nine from TMC and one from the Congress) reportedly expressed confidence in him.
Half an hour later when the ruling party councillors had left, 11 BJP councillors entered the building and signed the letter of no-confidence in the absence of their TMC counterparts.