Speaking at the inauguration of the East Zone-II Regional Conference of National Judicial Academy in Kolkata, which was attended by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court T S Sivagnanam, the chief minister said: “…I want to apologise to mention this. It is not my intention to humiliate… anyone. But my kind submission is please see to it that there is no political bias in the judiciary. Judiciary must be pure, absolutely pure, sacred and honest. Let people worship it.”
The judiciary is an important temple for people and the supreme authority for delivering justice, Banerjee said. “It is like a mandir, masjid, gurudwara and girja (church). The judiciary is of the people, by the people and for the people… and the last frontier for getting justice and upholding constitutional rights,” she added.
Earlier, the chief minister had criticised the Calcutta High Court order cancelling all appointments made through a 2016 teacher recruitment test. She had then alleged that BJP leaders were influencing a section of the judiciary.
“I will not name any judge, but I am talking about the verdict. If you had pointed out the mistakes and directed us to correct them, we could have easily done that,” she had said. After Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court, who had ordered probes by central agencies into alleged irregularities in government recruitments in the state, quit judicial service to join the BJP and contested the Lok Sabha elections, the chief minister during campaigning had said: “The youths will not forgive you. All your judgments are under question. I can’t speak about justice, but I can comment on judgments.”
“From the very first day, we were saying that this man sitting on the (High Court) bench does not want people getting jobs. It is now clear… Every day, he gave lectures, gave interviews to TV channels. Now, the mask has come off and the real face has been exposed. He is now a BJP babu,” she had said.
Gangopadhyay went on to win the Lok Sabha election from Tamluk as a BJP MP. Meanwhile, hailing CJI Chandrachud for initiating digitisation and e-laws in courts, the chief minister on Saturday asserted that West Bengal is “number one among all states in e-governance”.
The chief minister said her government has spent Rs 1,000 crore for development of judicial infrastructure in the state, and provided land for a new high court complex in Rajarhat New Town.
Banerjee also criticised the Central government for not releasing funds to the state for the fast-track courts. “We have 88 fast-track courts in the state. Earlier, the Government of India used to provide financial assistance for the fast-track courts. But 7 to 8 years ago, they withdrew all these facilities. We are the only state running all the 88 fast-track courts, out of which 55 are for women. There are six POCSO courts as well,” the chief minister said.
Alleging that people from the northeast and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, from where judges and judicial officers are participating in the conference, are “neglected”, she urged that they be given bigger opportunities.
— With PTI