Kolkata (West Bengal): The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakhs on West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for putting the judiciary 'in a bad light'. CM Mamata had sought the recusal of Justice Kaushik Chanda from her Nandigram election petition over the latter's alleged links with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was also claimed that the Justice was an active member of the BJP till his appointment as the Additional Solicitor General of India in 2015. To this, Justice Kaushik Chanda had even declined to recuse from hearing West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's election petition against Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The matter will now be referred to Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal for assigning it to a different bench. Also, Banerjee's counsel had earlier written to the Acting Chief Justice of the high court seeking reassignment of her election petition to another bench.
Reacting to the allegations, Justice Chanda had said that he was never a convenor of the BJP Legal Cell, but had appeared in many cases representing the party before the Calcutta High Court. However, Justice Kaushik Chanda finally decided to recuse himself from the case citing personal reasons. Also, the amount which will be paid by the West Bengal Chief Minister will be used by the families of advocates who have been affected by COVID19. Earlier, on June 24, the Calcutta High Court had reserved the judgment on a plea of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging Nandigram election results. The Chief Minister had also appeared for the hearing virtually.