Supreme Court takes over case from Cal HC

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court presided by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud decided to transfer the matter to the Supreme Court.

MP, 29 Jan 2024, New Delhi / Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Monday transferred to itself all petitions related to the alleged scam in issuing caste certificates to candidates aspiring for reserved category MBBS seats in Bengal after a Calcutta High Court Single Bench defied the order passed by Division Bench over instituting a CBI probe in the matter. 

A five-judge bench of the Supreme Court presided by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud decided to transfer the matter to the Supreme Court. It will be listed after three weeks. “We will transfer the proceedings in the writ petition and the letter patent appeal (LPA) to the Supreme Court. 

We will list it after a while and deal with it,” said the bench, which also comprised justices Sanjiv Khanna, B R Gavai, Surya Kant and Aniruddha Bose. 

During a special hearing of the Bench on Saturday, the apex court had stayed all proceedings before both the Calcutta High Court benches. Supreme Court had taken suo motu cognizance of an order passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay “overruling” the order passed by Division Bench of Justice Soumen Sen and Justice Uday Kumar in the matter, which stayed the CBI probe. 

Bengal has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court challenging the Single Bench order for CBI probe into the matter. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Bengal government, said 10 FIRs have been registered in the matter so far and several caste certificates cancelled. 

“We will have an affidavit by the state government on the extent of the FIRs,” the bench told him. “The proceedings in writ petitions filed under Article 226 of the Constitution and the letter patent appeal (LPA) are transferred from the Calcutta High Court. 

All parties are directed to complete the pleadings in three weeks,” the bench said in its order. In another case, the Supreme Court on January 25 stayed proceedings on a matter pending before Justice Gangopadhyay wherein he questioned the order passed by Division Bench regarding alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE). 

Justice Gangopadhyay had questioned the Division Bench’s order to stay his direction for publication of the panel of candidates. In this case too, the Division Bench was led by Justice Soumen Sen. 

A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan reportedly sought responses from both Central and state governments while granting a stay on the proceedings. A petition was filed by the candidates who alleged that they were not selected despite participating in an interview and aptitude test. 

They demanded for the Board to disclose the marks breakup and publish the panel of candidates. The WBBPE opposed the prayer while submitting that the Division Bench has granted a stay in the matter. However, Justice Gangopadhyay ordered that no stay can be granted on provision of law. 

The matter was again challenged in the Division Bench, who set aside the order, which was then challenged in the Supreme Court. 

In the MBBS case, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had accused Judge Soumen Sen of the Division Bench of pandering to the interests of Bengal’s ruling party by overruling his order for a CBI probe. 

The top court had taken cognisance of the unpleasant situation on Friday, constituted a five-judge bench, and decided to hold a special sitting on January 27 to resolve the impasse that understandably caused it great discomfiture. “We will stay further proceedings. 

We are issuing notice to the State of West Bengal and the original petitioner before the HC. We will list the proceedings on Monday again. We will stay all further proceedings in the writ petition and the Letters Patent Appeal and the implementation of the single bench order referring the investigation to CBI,” the bench had ordered. 

Justice Gangopadhyay had overruled the decision of a Division Bench of Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar Ganguly which had quashed his order of registering an FIR in the case.With Agency inputs 

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/supreme-court-takes-over-case-from-cal-hc-549994