Reserved category certificate case: The Supreme Court today (January 27) stayed all proceedings before the Calcutta High Court in a matter relating to alleged irregularities in the issuance of reserved category certificates and admission of MBBS candidates in state-run medical colleges and hospitals in West Bengal.
In a special hearing, a five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Aniruddha Bose issued notice to the West Bengal government and the original petitioner in the case.
The Supreme Court on Saturday heard the controversy between the Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench order and division bench decision in West Bengal's fake caste certificate matter.
It also stayed the orders passed by the single-judge bench and the division bench in the matter.
"We will take this up on Monday, took this up now to pass this order. We have taken charge now," the bench said.
The top court has taken suo moto cognisance of an order passed by a single bench of the Calcutta High Court that termed as illegal and ignored an order of the division bench in a case of alleged irregularities in the admission of MBBS candidates in state-run medical colleges and hospitals.
Earlier, the division bench of the high court had stayed the single bench's order for a CBI probe into the matter.
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The case title "In Re: Orders of Calcutta High Court dated January 24, 2024, and January 25 and Ancillary Issues," arose out of some orders passed by Calcutta High Court's single judge bench and division bench disagreeing with each other.Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay in his order has accused Justice Soumen Sen, who is heading the division bench, of acting for a political party in the West Bengal state."
A single judge of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had directed to ignore Calcutta High Court's division bench order and asked the CBI to begin its probe into the fake caste certificate matter.Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay said that Justice Sen is acting clearly for some political party in the WB State and, therefore, the orders passed by the bench led by Justice Sen are required to be relooked if the Supreme Court thinks so.
He further said that Justice Sen has done it to save some political party in power and his (Justice Sen) actions are tantamount to misconduct. The matter arises out of a petition in High Court whereby it was alleged that rampantly issuing fake caste certificates to many persons to ease their admission to medical courses.
The single judge bench of Justice Gangopadhyay on January 24 asked the West Bengal Police to hand over documents related to the matter to the CBI. After some time, the matter was mentioned before a division bench of Justice Sen and Uday Kumar, which stayed the single judge's order.
The single judge bench of Justice Gangopadhyay again took up the matter on and asked the West Bengal police to give paper to CBI. The division bench on Thursday did not agree with the single-judge bench decision. The single judge again heard the matter on January 25 and passed certain remarks against Justice Sen.
(With agencies inputs)
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