State law minister Moloy Ghatak appeared before Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the high court at 5pm on Wednesday after being summoned for an explanation as to why he had not executed a transfer order of a CBI court judge whose file has been pending in his office.
The pending transfer of judge Arpan Chattopadhyay came up during the court appearance of CBI officer Ashwin Shenvi, who is heading the agency’s team that is probing alleged irregularities in school recruitments.
A court official said Shenvi, on being asked about the hurdles the agency was facing, told Justice Gangopadhyay about the alleged harassment of CBI officers by the state police and the pending transfer of a CBI court judge that they had prayed for citing an order.
Justice Gangopadhyay summoned the judicial secretary at 4.15pm and asked him about the pending transfer.
“The judicial secretary said the transfer order could not be executed as the relevant file had been with the law minister since August 25,” said a lawyer in the court.
Justice Gangopadhyay then summoned law minister Ghatak.
When Ghatak appeared in the court at 5pm, which is beyond regular court hours, he submitted that he had been admitted to hospital. “The minister said the hospital discharged him four days ago and his doctor has advised him 15 days’ rest. So he could not browse through the file,” said a court official.
The official quoted Justice Gangopadhyay as telling the minister: “I am happy that you have attended the court.... Don’t take it otherwise.”
Justice Gangopadhyay gave the law department time till October 6 to execute the transfer order.
Earlier, Shenvi submitted that the CBI could not question four accused in the hiring scam because judge Chattopadhyay sent them to judicial remand.