As Trinamool welcomes SC order removing judge in Abhishek case, Oppn fires back: ‘Not over’

The SC ordered that the proceedings pending before Justice Gangopadhyay against Banerjee in the school jobs case be transferred to some other judge. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha passed the order after taking cognizance of an interview Justice Gangopadhyay gave to the ABP Ananda news channel last September in which he made comments about Banerjee even as he was hearing the case concerning the Trinamool MP. The SC order was passed on a plea Banerjee filed against a High Court order allowing a probe against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The top court had previously stayed the April 13 judgment by Justice Gangopadhyay ordering a probe by the central agencies into Banerjee’s alleged role in irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff at government schools.

Reacting to the development, the TMC leader said, “In the coming days, I feel there should be a transparent and proper investigation in this matter. If anyone from Trinamool Congress is found guilty, there must be a thorough probe and the guilty should be punished accordingly.”

Accusing the BJP of using central agencies for political gains, the MP said, “I said in the past 22 months, there have been around 23 CBI cases in Bengal. As the BJP has been unable to win elections here in Bengal, they have used a few people from the judiciary to target us. No other state has faced such a thing. I mentioned the CBI cases on 29th March, and today’s date is 28th April. In a month, we have seen three more CBI cases. So, in the past 24 months, there has been a total of 26 CBI cases in Bengal. If you look closely, this has been done by a few particular judges, and not all of them.”

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the party had the deepest respect for Justice Gangopadhyay but accused him of “misusing his chair”. He added, “We have the utmost respect for Justice Gangopadhyay. I have no personal enmity against him. But as he was misusing his chair and making unrelated and unwarranted comments against my party and our leaders, we opposed him. Such comments had no legal standing and one cannot say such things by holding such high a post. On behalf of the party, I had protested against it.”

State BJP president Sukanta Majumdar described the SC order as “unfortunate”. He said, “We view this direction as an unfortunate one. The people of Bengal are disappointed with this order as they see Justice Gangopadhyay as a crusader against corruption. He has earned immense respect among the people for this and they wanted him to continue his crusade against corruption. Now we have to accept the Supreme Court order and we cannot say anything against it. But the people of Bengal will always remember Justice Gangopadhyay’s fight against corruption. If TMC leaders think that they have escaped the wrath of justice then they are wrong. They will have to go to jail. If not today, then a few days later.”

Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Suvendu Adhikari said the party “salutes” Justice Gangopadhyay for his fight against corruption. “We salute him. He does not need to get nervous about this order. What he has done, will be remembered for ages. We have full faith in his judicial decisions and we firmly believe that he will continue to fight against corruption.”

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president Adhir Chowdhury said there was no need to think that investigations against TMC leaders had stopped after the SC order. “No one should think that the probe has stopped in the recruitment scam. People have welcomed the role of the judiciary in making the CBI and ED active in probing the recruitment scam. Justice Gangopadhyay was able to appear as a saviour for those who were deprived of their jobs due to the scam. He fought like a warrior against corruption. But for the people of Bengal, he has earned the deepest respect.”

Senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty said TMC leaders would not get away from an investigation. “The recruitment scam is an organised crime. No one should feel that the probe has stopped and corrupted TMC leaders will get away. TMC should not celebrate too much as the investigation will go on as directed by the court,” said Chakraborty.

A year of run-ins

Since the start of last year, Justice Gangopadhyay has ordered CBI probes into the alleged teacher recruitment scam. The investigation led to the arrest of former minister Partha Chatterjee and the recovery and seizure of movable and immovable property worth over Rs 100 crore.

Besides, Justice Gangopadhyay also ordered the removal of the state Primary Education Board president and those accused of getting jobs by unfair means. He also issued orders giving teaching jobs to candidates who had moved the court alleging irregularities in the recruitment process. In September, Justice Gangopadhyay gave the interview to ABP Ananda in which he criticised the state government and the TMC.

In that interview, he said Banerjee should be jailed for three months for alleging that a section of the judiciary was hand in glove with the BJP. “I am aware that after the interview there will be controversy but whatever I am doing is as per the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct, which state that judges have freedom of expression but whatever they say has to be under the purview of law,” said Justice Gangopadhyay.

In November, the TMC lashed out at the HC judge after he observed that he might have to ask the Election Commission of India (ECI) to cancel the recognition of the TMC as a political party and withdraw its logo.

During a hearing in the SSC recruitment case, it was learnt that Gangopadhyay said, “No one has the right to do anything with the Constitution of India. I might have to ask the ECI to cancel the recognition of Trinamool Congress as a political party and withdraw its party logo.”

Following Justice Gangopadhyay’s observation and comments, the senior leadership of the TMC launched a campaign against him, with Kunal Ghosh accusing him of “misusing his chair of a judge” to engage in political activism.

Meanwhile, job aspirants demonstrating in the city for a fair inquiry into the alleged irregularities were left disappointed with the Supreme Court’s order on Friday. “We have been protesting against the job scam after losing our genuine jobs. Today we feel that we have lost our spine to continue our fight. We want Justice Gangopadhyay to continue hearing the case,” said one of the protesters.