Calcutta High Court Acting Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam on Tuesday reassigned two cases related to the alleged primary school teacher recruitment scam to Justice Amrita Sinha.
The cases were being heard by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay. But on Friday, a Supreme Court division bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud had directed the Acting Chief Justice of the high court to shift the two cases from Justice Gangopadhyay's court to any other court.
The Supreme Court issued the order after Trinamul Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee's lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi had brought to the notice of the court an interview that Justice Gangopadhyay had given to ABP Ananda.
Singhvi argued that a judge could not appear for a media interview and comment on a case pending before his court. The Supreme Court sought a report from the judge and a transcript of the interview to decide on the matter.
After going through the report and the transcript, the Chief Justice of India's division bench directed the Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court to shift two cases related to recruitment to primary schools from Justice Gangopadhyay's court.
The court had also stated that the Acting CJ of Calcutta High Court would have the liberty to shift other related cases from the court of Justice Gangopadhyay, if he desired so.
Legal circles, as well as litigants involved in these two cases, were anxious about the future of the cases. But as Justice Sinha was assigned to hear the case, both the lawyers and litigants involved in these cases expressed satisfaction.
These two cases are important because Justice Gangopadhyay had ordered the CBI, and subsequently the ED, to probe into the alleged scam in the recruitment of teachers in primary schools.
Apart from these alleged scams, the two central agencies are probing irregularities in the recruitment of employees and teachers in upper primary and secondary schools.
Former education minister Partha Chattopadhyay, a couple of education department officials and a few Trinamul leaders are in custody on charges of their involvement in these cases.
However, issues related to upper primary and secondary school recruitment were being heard by Justice Biswajit Basu of Calcutta High Court.
However, probes by two central agencies into the alleged scam in the recruitment of primary teachers were being monitored by Justice Gangopadhyay. Now, Justice Sinha will monitor these probes.
The name of Abhishek Banerjee had cropped up when in April the ED had informed Justice Gangopadhyay that Kuntal Ghosh, a Trinamul youth leader arrested in connection with the recruitment scam in primary schools, had written letters to a CBI court judge and Hasting police station accusing the central agency of putting pressure on him to name the Diamond Harbour MP in these cases.
Following that letter, Justice Gangopadhyay had issued an order asking the ED to summon Banerjee and conduct a face-to-face interrogation with him with Kuntal.
