Supreme Court Overrules High Court Judge Who Was Removed From Case

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court had asked the West Bengal school jobs "scam" case to be reassigned after examining a report on Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay's interview to a news channel.

The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold an order by a judge of the Calcutta High Court, who had asked for documents on being removed from a case. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who in a very unusual move, had sat down for a TV interview and commented on cases he was hearing, had ordered the Supreme Court's top official to produce before him the documents that led to his removal from a high-profile teachers' recruitment case involving members of the ruling party in West Bengal. The interview itself had raised questions on propriety and the impartiality of the judge.

Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who was hearing petitions related to an alleged scam in the recruitment of teachers in the state, was asked to be replaced by another judge after a bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud took note of a report by the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court that the judge had given an interview to a news channel about the case.

Hearing an appeal by Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and a leader of her Trinamool Congress party, the Supreme Court earlier in the day also asked the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to reassign the case to a different judge, citing "the need to preserve public confidence in the administration of justice".

On Monday, the Supreme Court disapproved of the interview and said that if the judge had given an interview, then he could no longer hear the case. The court had asked the Registrar-General to verify and file an affidavit on the matter. Judges have no business granting interviews on pending matters, the Supreme Court said.