HC raps judge for passing order on matter pending before another court
Times of India | 11 January 2024
KOLKATA: A division bench of Calcutta high court on Wednesday termed Justice Amrita Sinha's January 3 order directing the Enforcement Directorate to collect voice samples of cash-for-jobs accused Sujay Krishna Bhadra a "dangerous trend in the judicial structure".
Justices Soumen Sen and Uday Kumar held that Justice Sinha didn't take the "right approach" by passing an order on a matter that was pending adjudication in the court of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh.
While declining to interfere in Justice Sinha's directive to the central agency, the bench put the onus on Justice Ghosh to take the final decision on the judicial process pertaining to Bhadra's voice samples.
Bhadra had challenged the directive, arguing that the single-judge bench "failed to appreciate that a criminal revisional application...(is) sub judice before a coordinate bench".
The division bench said ED officials should have apprised Justice Sinha of the status of the case pending in Justice Ghosh's court and approached the latter if they could not get Bhadra's voice samples. The ED counsel said it was becoming difficult for the agency to proceed with the investigation because of hurdles at every step. "ED investigators are being assaulted. Police are lodging FIRs against us."