Kolkata: On Monday morning, the cacophony at Calcutta High Court was louder than usual. From the policemen stationed at the gates to the lawyers bustling through the corridors and even the court clerks, everyone was discussing the same thing — Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s sudden resignation just five months shy of his scheduled retirement from the nation’s oldest high court.
A line of visitors stretched outside his chamber on the fifth floor of the centenary building — fellow judges, lawyers, officials from the accounts department, and even citizens from central offices. Some arrived bearing books as gifts, others sought a selfie, while lawyers reminisced about moments from his courtroom and extended their good wishes.
Not too long ago, Justice Gangopadhyay was called “god” by job aspirants in West Bengal.
Speaking to the media Tuesday, Justice Gangopadhyay said both sides approached each other. “I also approached BJP, BJP also approached me,” he said, adding that for the past seven days, he had not performed any adjudication.
Meanwhile, the BJP has announced its first list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. Out of 42 seats in West Bengal, BJP is yet to declare names for 23 remaining seats.
Calcutta HC hasn’t witnessed this before — a sitting judge quitting judiciary to join politics. According to the HC’s Bar Secretary B. Basu Mallick, this will have a deep impact on the honourable image of Calcutta High Court that will not be easily erased, if ever.
“Citizens think highly of the judiciary but not politicians. But what justice Gangopadhyay has done will hurt the image of Calcutta High Court. Naturally, people will question whether his orders against the ruling TMC were politically motivated. Legally, he has not flouted any law, there are no provisions laid out for cooling-off period for any practicing judge after he demits office and before he joins active politics. But the people’s perception of judiciary and politics being hand-in-glove now stands clear,” said Mallick.
But Justice Gangopadhyay isn’t the first judge to have taken early retirement to make a political debut. In 1967, former Chief Justice of India Koka Subba Rao resigned three months before his retirement to fight presidential polls as an Opposition candidate against Congress’s Zakir Hussain. In 1983, former SC judge Baharul Islam resigned six weeks before his retirement to contest Lok Sabha polls as a Congress candidate from Assam’s Barpeta seat.
Welcoming the decision, advocate Priyanka Tibrewal said, more honest people like Justice Gangopadhyay should join politics. Tibrewal was nominated by the BJP to fight the Bhowanipore bypoll in 2021 against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
In the Bar elections held last month, the Trinamool Congress secured 10 of 15 seats, including that of the president. The BJP secured the remaining five, up from its three seats it secured previously.
However, Mallick says that for lawyers to openly have certain political affiliations is fine because a lawyer is fighting cases for a client, “but a judge is supposed to hear cases that are assigned to him in an unbiased manner as he is under oath”.
‘Political fights playing out in court’
According to Mallick, it is the TMC that has a hand in the politicisation of the judiciary.
“You see, when the advocate generals were fighting cases for the government of West Bengal, the brief was coming from the party and not the home department. Thus, you see, none of the AGs completed their term under the Trinamool rule. The BJP has taken this opportunity to challenge the TMC, that’s why you see the rise in cases between the Opposition and the government. The political fights are playing out in open court. And now it has led to a judge joining politics,” explained Basu Malik.
A young lawyer, who has just launched his firm and had earlier worked in the office of the additional solicitor general, told ThePrint on condition of anonymity, “Questions are being raised on whether the recent orders passed by the judge turned BJP politician were without bias or not. The headlines that were and are being written about Calcutta High Court will be permanent marks on the image of an independent judiciary.”
The TMC, meanwhile, has been swift to seize this opportunity to lighten the weight of scam allegations against the Bengal government, particularly since the judge had put the party in a tight spot, ordering as many as 14 central agency probes against it in preceding years.
“He had become a black spot on the judicial system, the way he took decisions as per his political priorities. I had said it before that he destroyed the dignity of Calcutta HC,” remarked TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee at a news conference on Tuesday. Banerjee is a sitting Trinamool Congress MP, a senior advocate at the Calcutta High Court and has appeared for the State in the Supreme Court as well.
Speaking to the media Tuesday, TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee said, “People should carefully read between the lines. He said he was in touch with the BJP, and the BJP was in touch with him. People are smart to understand what this means.” The MP had previously moved the Supreme Court over an interview given by Gangopadhyay to a news channel.
While speaking to ThePrint, retired SC judge Ashok Ganguly said that Justice Gangopadhyay’s decision to join politics was a personal one and that he had not violated any law. Moreover, he added that Gangopadhyay has also been at the centre of political debates in Bengal, so this won’t be new for him. “The orders passed by Justice Gangopadhyay were based on merit. I don’t think he passed those orders for political points. His orders gave hope to the people fighting for justice,” added Ganguly.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
99% of ex-justice Abhjit Ganguly’s orders/judgment were upheld in Supreme court and in division bench of Calcutta High Court, this proves that there was political bias/influence,he is already a “God” among millions of educated Bengali youth,it does not matter what dogs like Kalyan of TMC bark against him!!. “Hati chale bazar, kutta voke hajar” – Kabir