New Delhi: A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud will hear the suo-motu proceedings on a rare conflict between a single bench and a division bench of the Calcutta High Court over a CBI probe into an alleged fake caste certificate scam pertaining to admissions to medical colleges in West Bengal.
A single judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had declared the division bench's order illegal. The unprecedented development took place after the larger bench stayed Justice Gangopadhyay's direction for a CBI probe into irregularities into MBBS admissions in West Bengal.
A bench led by CJI and comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose will assemble at 10.30 am on Saturday. The suo motu case is registered as 'In Re: Orders of Calcutta High Court Dated 24.01.2024 and 25.01.2024 and Ancillary Issues'.
On January 25, Justice Gangopadhyay, in an order, had termed the division bench's order illegal. The division bench was headed by Justice Soumen Sen and included Justice Uday Kumar. On January 24, the division bench had stayed the direction for CBI probe into the matter and mentioned that the state government should be allowed to complete its own investigation into the matter.
Justice Gangopadhyay, on January 25, 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.
“I do not know how a judge, being Justice Soumen Sen, who is under an order of transfer for more than two years, is acting here as a judge defying the Supreme Court Collegium’s recommendation (dated September 16, 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.
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