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Taking suo motu cognizance of the issue, a special bench was constituted by the Supreme Court of India on Friday to deal with the issue
The Supreme Court today has transferred to itself the proceedings in a case before the Calcutta High Court where two conflicting orders had been passed by a single judge and division bench on CBI probe.
On Saturday, the five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India in a special sitting had stayed the proceedings in the case before high court.
Taking suo motu cognizance of the orders passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, a special bench led by CJI Dy Chandrachud was constituted on Friday, January 26.
"What we propose to do is transfer the proceedings in the writ petition and letter patent appeal filed at the Calcutta High Court before us. We have already stayed the proceedings...", the bench said today as it convened to hear the matter.
We will give some time for the pleadings to be completed by three weeks and list it exactly after three weeks, the bench added.
Notably, Justice Gangopadhyay had ignored an order passed by a division bench, which had stayed the single bench's order for a CBI probe into a scam alleging irregularities pertaining to admissions to medical colleges in West Bengal.
Top Court's bench also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Aniruddha Bose after hearing the matter briefly on Saturday had ordered thus, "Issue notice to the original writ petitioner before the High Court and the State of West Bengal. Pending further orders there shall be stay of all proceedings in the writ petitions before the high court. The implementation of the directions issued by the single judge on Jan 24, 25 shall remain stayed."
A unique controversy had surfaced within the high court when Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on January 25, ignored and declared an order of a division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar illegal. He accused Justice Sen of showing favoritism towards a political party in West Bengal.
The background of the matter was that in a plea by one Itisha Soren alleging that in the State several persons had obtained fake caste certificates to get admission to medical courses, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay passed an order calling for a CBI inquiry on January 24. He ordered the Advocate General to transfer the investigation documents from the State Police to the CBI while stating that he had little faith in the West Bengal Police.
Notably, Itisha Soren's petition had not sought any direction for a CBI probe in the matter.
On the same day, the State government contested the aforementioned order before a division bench of the high court rather than the Supreme Court. The matter was mentioned before a division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar by the Advocate General within a few minutes of the single-judge order being passed.
Case Title: In Re: Orders Of Calcutta High Court dated 24.01.2024 and 25.01.2024 and ancillary issues.
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