Denial of passover not ground for review of judgment: Delhi High Court in Alapan Bandyopadhyay case

The Delhi High Court has held that seeking a passover in a case is not a matter of right [Alapan Bandyopadhyay v Union of India and Ors]..A Division Bench of Justices C Hari Shankar and Jyoti Singh said that if the Court denies pass over, it cannot be a ground for review of the judgment. “The ground that no pass over was granted cannot be a ground for review of the judgement. It is not a matter of right to seek a pass over and moreover, counsel for the Petitioner was heard at length, which is evident from a bare reading of the judgement,” the Court observed. .The Bench made the observations while rejecting a plea filed by former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay seeking review of the Court's 2022 decision. In the judgment under review, the High Court had upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) Chairman's decision to transfer a case filed by Bandyopadhyay from the CAT's Kolkata Bench to Delhi.The Central government initiated proceedings against Bandyopadhyay after he allegedly arrived late to a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Cyclone Yaas in 2021. The IAS officer challenged the move before the Kolkata Bench of CAT. However, the matter was transferred to Delhi by the CAT Chairman before any hearing could take place. On Bandyopadhyay’s challenge, the Kolkata High Court set aside the Chairman’s directive. However, the Supreme Court overturned the decision, holding that the CAT Chairman’s decision could be subjected to scrutiny "only before a Division Bench of a High Court within whose jurisdiction the tribunal concerned falls."This prompted Bandyopadhyay to move Delhi High Court, but it rejected his petition. One of the grounds agitated by him in his review petition was that despite repeated requests by the junior counsel to pass over the matter for the senior advocate to argue, the Bench denied the request. However, the Court found no force in the argument..Senior Advocate AK Behera with advocates Kunal Vajani, Kunal Mimani, Kartikey Bhatt and Prashant Alai appeared for Bandyopadhyay.The Central government was represented through Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Vikramjeet Banerjee, Central Government Standing Counsel (CGSC) Nidhi Raman, as well as advocates Akash Mishra, Arnav Mittal, Suraj, Kartik Dey and Mayank Sansanwal..[Read Judgment]