A single-bench judge of Calcutta High Court on Wednesday criticised the role of a division bench of the same court, which he said was curbing the power of his bench by ordering stays on his rulings.
Single-bench judge Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay sought the intervention of Calcutta High Court and the Chief Justice of India through an administrative order.
In open court on Wednesday, Justice Gangopadhyay expressed his grievances against a particular division bench of the court, which, according to him, had issued stays on orders he had passed in several cases related to the appointment of staff for government-aided secondary schools by the School Service Commission (SSC).
On Tuesday, Justice Gangopadhyay had issued an order asking the former chief advisor of the SSC, S.B. Sinha, to furnish details of his properties.
The SSC moved an appeal against the order before the division bench the same day. The division bench said Sinha could submit the property details in a sealed cover.
Justice Gangopadhyay’s comments came after he was informed about the division bench order.
The acts of the said division bench had been “destroying the natural justice system”, Justice Gangopadhyay said.
Senior advocates in the high court could not recall an instance where a judge had come down on another bench.
Advocate Rabishankar Chattopadhyay said: “It is a rarest of rare instance where a single-bench judge criticises the act of a division bench of the same court. In my 40 years of practice, I have never witnessed such an event.”
