HC irked over Bengal's CAT plea

KOLKATA: Calcutta high court on Wednesday refused to pay heed to the petitions filed by the top brass of the administration - chief secretary and home secretary - seeking transfer of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) case pertaining to former IPS officer Nazrul Islam to another bench of the CAT.
A high court bench comprising Justice Ashim Banerjee and Justice Arijit Banerjee held that the names of the two CAT judges Pratap Roy and P K Bose should be deleted from the petitions.State advocate general Bimal Chatterjee conceded to the high court's observation. The advocate general submitted that he has no objection to it.
Earlier, the chief secretary and home secretary moved the bench seeking the transfer of the Nazrul Islam case to another CAT bench claiming that the CAT judges were biased against the state government. The two senior officials stated in their petitions that the CAT bench of judges Pratap Roy and PK Bose exceeded its jurisdiction by issuing summons to two state officials.
CAT counsel Arunava Ghosh opposed the state petition. Ghosh submitted that passing the CAT case to another bench would affect the independence of the judiciary. Somnath Bose and Ashis Roy, counsel for the Union of India, also opposed the petition stating that the high court has no jurisdiction to transfer the case because the CAT is a constitutional bench. The court is likely to pass the order on Thursday.
The high court also turned down Nazrul Islam's petition to transfer his case to another high court bench. Nazrul in his petition accused the bench of Justice Ashim Banerjee and Justice Arijit Banerjee of bias. Counsel for Islam Surojit Samonto argued that if the high court bench refused to transfer the case, then Islam won't contest the case in the high court.