After hearing the PIL, A division bench of Justice Kaushik Chanda and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray placed it before Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam for proper adjudication. Justice Sinha is hearing cases related to police inaction or excesses which have embarrassed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government. She had previously issued an order in the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam cases that was criticised by the TMC.
The main argument in the PIL, filed by advocate Sanjay Das, was that since the West Bengal CID is investigating Justice Sinha’s husband for allegedly using his spouse’s high office to influence a police investigation, her determination of police inaction/overaction matters would not inspire public confidence in the justice delivery system.
The division bench said, “After hearing arguments on behalf of the petitioner, Ld. Registrar General and the Ld. AG Mr Kishore Dutta, the Hon’ble Court was pleased to observe that the PIL contained and raised a valid question of law but the issue pertains to administrative powers of the Hon’ble Chief Justice and hence needs to be placed before the Hon’ble Chief Justice for proper adjudication. Hence, the Learned Bench placed the PIL before the Hon’ble Chief Justice for further hearing on the reopening day, i.e. 10/06/2024.”
The court will reopen on June 10 after the summer vacation, and the roster of justices will also be changed at that time. It is to be seen whether Justice Sinha will continue to handle these matters after the vacation or if they will be reassigned.
In April 2023, the Supreme Court directed the transfer of the SSC recruitment scam case hearings from Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s bench to that of Justice Sinha after the former discussed the case in an interview he gave to a Bengali news channel.
The SSC recruitment scam involved alleged illegal recruitments in primary and secondary schools across West Bengal during the 2016 hiring process. Allegations surfaced that many candidates were hired based on incorrect evaluations of their answer sheets.
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