A Calcutta High Court division bench on Wednesday set aside the order of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the court that the principal and a lecturer of Jogesh Chandra Chowdhury Law College be removed.
Justice Gangopadhyay had on October 4 ordered the removal of Sunanda Goenka as principal of the south Kolkata college and Achina Kundu as lecturer following a petition by a student.
The division bench of Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty and Justice Rai Chattopadhyay, which set aside the single-judge bench’s ruling, also stuck down Justice Gangopadhyay’s order disallowing Goenka and Kundu from entering the college premises and appointing a special officer to put the principal’s room under lock and key.
The division bench expressed its displeasure upon hearing that the lawyer who had appeared for the petitioner student was appointed the special officer.
The petitioner student had submitted that the appointment of Goenka and Kundu was illegal as it was in violation of UGC rules.
“Being a lawyer, you should know the norms. How you agreed to play the role of a special officer in a case in which you are fighting for the petitioner?” Justice Chakrabarty asked Arka Nag, the lawyer who was appointed the special officer.
The division bench asked Nag to open the principal’s room by 9am on
Thursday.
“As special officer, I have given notice to the parties concerned, including the ousted principal, so that she remains present on Thursday for resuming charge as principal,” Nag told The Telegraph.
The bench directed the officer in charge of Charu Market police station to ensure that no untoward incident happened during Goenka’s reinstatement as principal.
Justice Chakrabarty, the senior judge on the bench, said: “The decision to remove the principal of a college was taken without hearing the version of the accused, which was not right.“
The lawyer representing the petitioner had last week submitted before Justice Gangopadhyay that his client had sought to know from Goenka how she got appointed and did not get any satisfactory answer.
Counsel for the petitioner had also told Justice Gangopadhyay that Manik Bhattacharya was instrumental in appointing Goenka as principal and Kundu as lecturer.
Bhattacharya, a former president of the state primary education board who was arrested in October last year in connection with the alleged irregularities in school recruitments, had headed the college from 1998 to 2014.
Goenka succeeded him in 2015.
The division bench sent the original case — questioning the legality of the appointment of Goenka and Kundu — back to Justice Gangopadhyay’s bench for
disposal.