Cal HC adjourns hearing to Jan 14 amid chaos, acting CJ rebuffs ED
Times of India | 10 January 2026
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday postponed hearings on the petitions filed by Enforcement Directorate and Trinamool Congress on I-PAC searches till Jan 14 citing "enormous disturbance and commotion" in the courtroom. A visibly angry justice Suvra Ghosh left the courtroom after her repeated pleas for "order" were ignored by assembled lawyers and interns.
Its move frustrated, ED counsel Dhiraj Trivedi immediately approached Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul for an urgent hearing but was turned down. ACJ Paul said the ED's plea could not be entertained since Justice Ghosh had already fixed the next hearing date and passed an order.
In her order, Justice Ghosh mentioned that the matter was taken up for consideration but a large number of advocates as well as other persons entered the courtroom and created disturbance. "Several requests made by the court to maintain decorum and dignity so that the matter can be taken up for consideration fell on deaf ears. The environment in the courtroom is not conducive to commence/continue with the hearing," the order said.
A day after ED conducted searches at the office of I-PAC and the home of its director, and CM Mamata Banerjee rushed to both places along with the state DGP and Kolkata police commissioner, both sides filed formal pleas in the HC on Friday pointing fingers at each other.
The agency in its petition urged the HC to order a CBI probe against the CM, DGP Manoj Kumar and CP Manoj Varma for "theft of digital devices and other evidence, wrongful restraint and confinement of central govt officers". Trinamool Congress also moved Justice Ghosh's bench accusing the ED of "stealing" party data relating to the upcoming 2026 assembly elections from I-PAC's offices.
The hearing was scheduled for 2:30 pm but crowd in court no. 5 started to swell after lunch hours that ended at 2 pm. ED counsel Trivedi and Trinammol's Kalyan Banerjee complained that they were finding it impossible to reach the bench to argue their cases. Justice Ghosh repeatedly sought order and discipline but to no avail. "Anyone not associated with the case, please leave," she pleaded. After 15 minutes of chaos, HC officials and a Kolkata Police personnel posted outside the courtroom managed to clear a section of the courtroom but even after that the excitement refused to die down. "I cannot hear anything," Justice Ghosh said angrily as she adjourned the matter to Jan 14 and left the courtroom.