SC Orders Probe into High Court Judge’s Interview on Pending Case

New Delhi (India), April 24, 2023: The recent conduct of a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, has attracted strong disapproval from the Supreme Court. Justice Gangopadhyay had given an interview to news channel ABP Ananda on the subject of Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee, even as a case involving Banerjee was being heard by him.

The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, and Justice PS Narasimha have unequivocally stated that judges have no business giving television interviews on pending matters, and if they do so, the concerned judge must recuse themselves from the case.

The Supreme Court has ordered the registrar general of the Calcutta High Court to verify whether Justice Gangopadhyay participated in the interview and, if so, to clarify the matter in an affidavit by Friday. The Court has also ruled that if Justice Gangopadhyay did participate in the interview, he cannot hear the school-for-jobs case and a different bench must take up the matter.

The Supreme Court has previously stayed an order by the High Court for a probe into Banerjee’s alleged role in irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff at government schools.

The appeal by Banerjee against the High Court’s order had prompted the filing of a petition claiming that the High Court had cast unsubstantiated aspersions on Banerjee and directed the CBI and ED to investigate him, despite him not being a party to the case.

Banerjee’s plea also highlighted Justice Gangopadhyay’s previous expression of dislike for him in an interview given to a news channel last September, as well as the judge’s remarks against Supreme Court judges who were hearing appeals against his order in the case. The Supreme Court has called for intervention to maintain the majesty of the institution and the faith of the common man in it.