Caste certificate scam: The Supreme Court on Monday transferred to itself the petitions concerning a dispute between two benches of the Calcutta High Court regarding a CBI investigation 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.
A five-judge Constitution bench, led by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, announced its decision to transfer all cases related to the matter to itself and ordered the completion of pleadings within three weeks. “We will list the pleas exactly after three weeks,” said the bench which also comprised justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose.
CJI Chandrachud emphasised that he does not intend to cast aspersions on either of the judges involved. He further stated that they would address the matter differently and cautioned that any remarks made should not undermine the dignity of the High Court.
Supreme Court stays Calcutta HC proceedings
Last week, in a special sitting, the Supreme Court stayed all proceedings before the Calcutta High Court in a matter. The top court bench had also issued notice to the West Bengal government and the original petitioner in the case.
A five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Aniruddha Bose sat on January 27 to address the dispute where a defiant judge overruled an order of a division bench that had quashed his direction for a CBI probe and asked the central agency to go ahead with the investigation.
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.
In a bid to resolve a piquant judicial situation, the bench on Saturday had decided to "take charge" and stay all proceedings in a tussle between the two benches of the Calcutta High Court.
Know more about Judge vs Judge
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 input)
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