Tiffs With TMC To 'Judge Vs Judge' Row: All About Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay Who Is Ready To Join Politics

Calcutta HC's Justice Gangopadhyay to join politics. No stranger to controversy, here's how he trigger two special Supreme Court sittings in 9 months, apologised to AG and had frequent tiff with TMC

Justice Gangopadhyay who joined the high court in 2018, was due to retire in the next five months, in August 2024.

Source : Twitter

The Calcutta High Court judge who recently triggered a special Supreme Court sitting to look into the "Judge vs Judge" row, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay is likely to announce his resignation on Tuesday to join politics.  

Justice Gangopadhyay told ABP Ananda in an exclusive interview that he plans on resigning from his post as judge on Tuesday. Justice Gangopadhyay said that he would like to thank the ruling party Trinamool Congress (TMC) for repeatedly challenging him to enter the political arena. 

Justice Gangopadhyay was born on August 19, 1962. He graduated from the Calcutta University’s Hazra Law College and began his career as a Grade A officer of the West Bengal Civil Services. He began his legal practice after resigning from civil services. He joined the Calcutta High Court as Additional Judge in May 2018. He was elevated as permanent Judge in July 2020. Justice Gangopadhyay who joined the high court in 2018, was due to retire in the next five months, in August 2024.

On his political trajectory, Justice Gangopadhyay said that he has not made any decisions about his political affiliations, or contesting the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. He said he is open to joining the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Indian National Congress (INC) or the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM).

“No decisions regarding my candidature for Lok Sabha polls, but I would like to thank the ruling party in West Bengal for challenging me to enter the political field…,” he told ABP Ananda

In January 2024, Justice Gangopadhyaya's judicial spat with a fellow judge Justice Soumen Sen of the Calcutta High Court forced the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of ‘order war' between the two judges. However, this is not the first time the top court had to call a special sitting to deal with Justice Gangopadhyaya's order.

No stranger to controversy, here's how he managed to trigger two special Supreme Court sittings in nine months and a letter seeking apology from 250 advocates.

Judge Vs Judge Row:

A single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta High Court accused fellow Justice Soumen Sen of misconduct and possessing political bias towards the ruling TMC for staying the CBI probe into alleged caste certificate scame and irregularities during admissions to medical colleges in West Bengal. 

A division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Justice Uday Kumar stayed the single bench'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 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.

Teacher's Recruitment Scam

In April 2023, the Teacher's Recruitment Scam involving TMC leader and CM Mamata Banerjee nephew Abhishek Banerjee was assigned to his bench. While dealing with pleas pertaining 'School Jobs for Cash Scam,' Justice Gangopadhyay gave an interview to a local Bengali news channel on the role of Abhishek Banerjee in the scam.

Taking strong objection to his actions, the Supreme Court observed that sitting judges had no business giving interviews to TV channels. The CJI lead bench then decided that the petitions will be assigned to another bench.

Apology To Advocate General

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

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

When the AG tried to inform Justice 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 Judge allegedly made extremely uncharitable, demeaning and defamatory comments about the Advocate General.

The proceedings in that case led to Justice Gangopadhyay ignoring the division bench's order, leading to the apex court transferring the case to itself. 

Frequent Tiffs With TMC

In November 2023, during a hearing in the teachers recruitment case, Justice Gangopadhyay remarked that he might have to ask the Election Commission to cancel the recognition of the TMC as a political party and withdraw its logo.

In 2023, In another case, Justice Gangopadhyay remarked a “bhaipo (nephew)” amassing wealth. 

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