Strike down Justice Gangopadhyay's 'political orders', Kalyan urges HC

KOLKATA: All "political orders" passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay in SSC cases should be struck down, senior advocate and Trinamool Lok Sabha chief whip Kalyan Banerjee on Monday pleaded with the Calcutta HC bench hearing alleged school recruitment scam-related cases.Banerjee, who was arguing for school job-seekers, told the bench that Justice Gangopadhyay was a "political person" and the orders he authored were done with "a political motive".Justice Gangopadhyay said on Sunday he would be quitting the judiciary on Tuesday to fight the battle against corruption on "a bigger field" by joining politics. He refused to specify which party he would join or whether he would be contesting the Lok Sabha poll but BJP seniors told TOI that negotiations were on, "probably for Tamluk LS constituency".Banerjee on Monday told the bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Md Shabbar Rashidi that he wanted to press a formal application. "The orders (passed by Justice Gangopadhyay) should be struck down. The single judge (who passed the orders) has spoken to the media. He has given this order with a political motive. He used these orders to carve out his future political career," Banerjee told the bench. "These are not judicial orders, these are political orders," Banerjee later told TOI. Trinamool Lok Sabha chief whip Kalyan Banerjee's application brought to the fore an ongoing debate in court corridors on how long a judge should wait to join politics after resigning. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had stressed on Sunday that he had not "adjudicated" for a week and would not pass any judicial order on his last day in court (Monday).Many legal experts, however, have questioned whether one week is enough to switch from the bench to politics. Senior advocate Milon Mukherjee argued this was "demeaning for the judiciary". "A decision to switch careers, from HC judge to politics, is not an easy one. It may mean this was under contemplation for some time. And there were orders passed during this phase. That is what is troubling me," he said.Former Bengal advocate-general Jayanta Mitra felt what happened was "avoidable". "This has brought disrepute to the Calcutta HC. And I, for one, am relieved that one of the most acrimonious chapters in the history of the Calcutta HC is now behind us," Mitra said.But experts also said there was no legal bar on the time-frame. "There are no hard and fast rules," outgoing Calcutta HC Bar Association president Arunava Ghosh, who has had a public courtroom spat with Justice Gangopadhyay, said. Senior advocate Bikash Bhattacharya, whom Justice Gangopadhyay had once referred to as a "mentor", agreed. "There are no rules on when one can make this switch," he said.The Supreme Court had turned down a plea in 2023 to carve out a two-year "cooling-off period" before an outgoing judge could accept political appointments. The SC said this issue should be left to the "better sense" of judges themselves. It also refused to step in on whether an ex-judge could get elected to the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha or be nominated.