A Look At Abhijit Gangopadhyay's Orders In Calcutta High Court That Made Headlines

Here's a list of cases when former judge made headlines through his orders and observations:

As soon as the former judge announced his plans to join BJP, the TMC leaders urged the Calcutta HC to undo his "political orders." ( Image Source :PTI )

Two days after resigning from the Calcutta High Court, Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Thursday officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP's latest addition is neither a stranger to controversies nor a layman in politics. Famous for his orders against the ruling party in West Bengal, Gangopadhyay's orders and remarks as a judge have many times irked the TMC leaders who have also called him "Phantom Gangopadhyay" for his remarks.

Here's a look at former judge's orders and remarks that made headlines:

Teachers Recruitment Case 

As soon as the former judge announced his plans to join BJP, the TMC leaders urged the Calcutta HC to undo his "political orders."

From facilitating FIRs against top TMC leaders to arrest of former state minister Partha Chatterjee, he has passed several orders to fasten the investigation in cases of corruption.

It was after his orders that 3 TMC MLAs and more than 12 government employees were arrested.

The case relates to allegations of corruption in the Teacher Eligibility Test 2014 conducted in 2016. Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe into the matter in April 2022. Consequently, in June 2022, appointment of 269 teachers was cancelled on the ground of illegality. The said order was stayed by the Supreme Court.

Remarks Against TMC

While hearing the case pertaining to alleged irregularities by the TMC government in the Teacher's Recruitment Case he remarked that he might have to ask the Election Commission to cancel the recognition of TMC as a political party and withdraw its party logo.

In September 2023, while hearing a case on Covid compensation, Gangopadhyay raised concerns over the source of wealth of a "Bhaipo" (nephew) who is amassing wealth. It was seen as a dig at Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee's four-storied house. Incidentally the case was not even linked to Banerjee. It was a case about women seeking Covid compensation.

Following this remark, TMC leader Kunal Gosh had asked Gangopadhyay to join politics. Gosh alleged that Justice Gangopadhyay was using his chair as a judicial shield and helping the opposition.

In 2023, in another such incident he gave an interview to a Bengali news portal speaking about that teacher's recruitment scam and made comments about Abhishek Banerjee. Following his interview, the Supreme Court had to convene a special sitting and asked the Calcutta High Court to reassign proceedings related to alleged irregularities in the recruitment of staff in schools in West Bengal to another judge.

Taking note of an interview by Gangopadhyay, the top court convened a special sitting and criticised him for speaking to the media about a case he was handling as a sitting judge.

 Judge Vs Judge Row:

In January 2024, Gangopadhyay accused fellow judge Justice Soumen Sen of misconduct and possessing political bias towards the ruling TMC for staying the CBI probe into alleged caste certificate scam and irregularities during admissions to medical colleges in West Bengal.

A division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Justice Uday Kumar had stayed Gangopadhyay's order directing for a CBI probe saying that the prayers in the original writ petition did not seek it. The bench further said that the State should be allowed to complete its own investigation and submit its progress reports.

Following this, Justice Gangopadhyay passed an order accusing Justice Sen of misconduct and passed an order directing the CBI to immediately begin its investigation in line with the single-bench order. He further requested the Chief Justice of India to look into the same.

Following the unusual order-war between judges of high court, the Supreme Court again had to convene a special sitting on a Saturday to deal with it. The top court then took over the caste certificate scam case from Gangopadhyay's bench.

Apology To Advocate General

Gangopadhyay had to tender an unconditional apology as a sitting judge to Advocate General Kishore Datta in his courtroom after 250 advocates wrote a letter to the Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam.

He was accused of showing a lack of courtesy, etiquette and decorum to the AG Datta.

This incident apparently occurred when the AG tried to inform Gangopadhyay of a division bench stay order in the case where SC had to later convene special sitting to deal with the "judge vs judge row." The proceedings in this case led to Gangopadhyay ignoring the division bench's order, leading to the apex court transferring the case to itself.

The lawyers alleged that the Judge allegedly made extremely uncharitable, demeaning and defamatory comments about the Advocate General.