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SC stays proceedings before Cal HC benches amid tussle
The SC has halted proceedings in a case involving the CBI and the Bengal govt, after contradictory orders were issued by two benches of the Calcutta HC.
The Supreme Court on Saturday stepped in and halted all proceedings in a case involving the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Bengal government that had brought two benches of the Calcutta high court into an unprecedented confrontation.
Highlighting that the turn of events warranted its intervention with a special five-judge bench sitting on a weekend, the court put in abeyance the direction issued by the single judge bench of justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay for an investigation by the CBI into an alleged fake caste certificate scam, which was made despite the division bench led by justice Soumen Sen annulling the probe order.
“We have taken charge now...this order will suffice the interest of justice for the time being,” said the bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, as it took up the proceedings drawn on its own motion in the special hearing.
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The bench, which also comprised the four most senior judges – justices Sanjiv Khanna, Bhushan R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose, issued notices to the West Bengal government and the CBI, seeking their replies by January 29 when the court will hear the matter again.
“Pending further orders of this court, there shall be a stay of all proceedings in the writ petition pending before the single judge and the appeal pending before the division bench in the Calcutta high court. The implementation of the direction by single judge on January 24 and 25 shall also remain stayed,” stated the bench in its order.
It also issued notice to the writ petitioner before the high court on whose plea the single judge had on January 24 directed the CBI to investigate the alleged scam. This order, however, sparked an unparallel judicial drama that not only left the state government and the CBI in a tizzy over contradictory orders but also saw the single judge hurling allegations of political influence at the judge leading the division bench.
During the brief proceedings on Saturday, the state government, represented by senior counsel Kapil Sibal, informed the bench that the state has also filed an appeal against the order of the CBI probe by the single judge and that it should be taken up along with the suo motu proceedings on January 29. Senior counsel Huzefa Ahmadi and Sunil Fernandes also appeared for the state in the matter.
READ | Cal HC: Dvn bench quashes CBI investigation, single bench orders probe to continue
While the bench agreed to list the state’s appeal, the Union government, represented through attorney general R Venkataramani and solicitor general Tushar Mehta urged the court to also examine the judicial propriety of the order passed by the division bench on January 24. The law officers pointed out that the division bench opted to suspend the order of the single judge without there being any appeal formally filed by the state government. According to SG Mehta, a 1985 judgment by the Supreme Court clearly spelled out that a larger bench cannot interfere with an order when there was no formal appeal memo before it.
Responding, the bench said: “We will reserve everything for later. We don’t want to even make a prima facie determination at this stage. Sometimes, there are exceptional circumstances, but we don’t want to say anything right now.” The court permitted the SG to submit a note on the procedural aspect.
At one point of the hearing, senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi informed the court that he was appearing for TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who had filed an application bringing to the court’s notice some contentious remarks passed by the single judge in question. Singhvi said his client would be filing a fresh writ petition in this regard.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the two benches of the high court passed contradictory orders on a petition alleging corruption in admission of students at medical colleges using fake caste certificates, with the larger bench on Thursday finally declaring the single judge’s orders void ab initio (legally void from the start) and quashing an FIR that CBI had lodged as per the single judge’s directive.
Later on Thursday, the single judge bench of justice Gangopadhyay directly targeted the judge heading the division bench, justice Sen, recording in his order that the latter was acting at the behest of a political party. “Justice Sen is acting clearly for some political party in the state and, therefore, the orders passed in the matters involving state, are required to be relooked if the Hon’ble Supreme Court thinks so,” justice Gangopadhyay said.
The chain of events before the high court started rolling on Wednesday when the single bench of justice Gangopadhyay ordered CBI to probe allegations levelled by a writ petitioner, Itisha Soren, alleging issuance of certificates of reserved caste candidates and use of those for admission in medical colleges.
Although Soren did not ask for a CBI probe, justice Gangopadhyay said that when a scam is peeping its head, it is the duty of the court to pass appropriate order for a thorough investigation in the matter, irrespective of whether the writ petitioner has prayed for a CBI inquiry or not.
The judge further said that the special investigation team (SIT), constituted by virtue of another order of his court to investigate an alleged scam relating to recruitment of teachers in the state, will probe the present case, and that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) may also come in if there is evidence of money trail.
While directing that the documents adduced before his bench by state’s advocate general Kishore Datta be handed over to CBI, justice Gangopadhyay also criticised the state police for not being able to arrest the accused involved 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 Gangopadhyay called a CBI officer to his court at 2.30pm on Wednesday to receive a copy of the documents relating to the case.
It was this decision, and the state government’s immediate move to move the larger bench, that set off the chain of conflicting rulings, which culminated in the latest order by justice Gangopadhyay on Thursday night, in which he said: “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. I have ignored the said illegal order passed by the division bench for the reasons as has been stated above, including the ground of ‘interested person Hon’ble Justice Soumen Sen’.”
