Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of Calcutta HC directs Supreme Court Secretary General to place his interview transcript before him by midnight

Moments after the Supreme Court directed that the school-for-jobs case not be heard by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay after he gave a TV interview, the Calcutta High Court judge has directed the Supreme Court Secretary General to produce the report and official transcript of the interview..A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha had on Friday ordered that the proceedings against Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee in relation to the school-for-jobs case, being heard by Justice Gangopadhyay, be transferred to some other judge of the High Court.The order was passed in light of the fact that Justice Gangopadhyay had given an interview to news channel ABP Ananda in which he made some comments against Banerjee, even as he was hearing the case."Having considered the note prepared by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay in respect of Annexure P7 and also perused the transcript of the interview, the transcript has been authenticated on April 26, 2023 by the interpreting officer on the original side of the High Court, we direct the Hon'ble admin Chief Justice shall reassign the pending proceedings in the case to some other judge of the Calcutta High Court," the top court ordered..However, in a suo motu proceeding today, Justice Gangopadhyay called for the official transcipt of the interview to be placed before him, for which he will wait till 12:15 am in his chamber. "For the sake of transparency, I direct the Secretary General of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India to produce before me the report and the official translation of the interview given by me in media and the affidavit of the Registrar General of this Court in original, forthwith by 12 midnight today. This is required for the sake of transparency. I will be waiting in my chamber till 12:15 in the midnight to get the said two sets in original which were placed before the Hon’ble Judges of the Supreme Court today," reads the order..Justice Gangopadhyay has further directed the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court to communicate this order forthwith to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court so that "those two sets in original, which were before the Hon’ble Judges today, can be placed before me as this has become now records of the court as the adjudication thereof is over.".The apex court passed today's order in a plea by Banerjee against the High Court's order calling for probe against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).The top court had previously stayed the April 13 judgment ordering a probe by the central agencies into Banerjee's alleged role in irregularities in recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff at government schools.During a public meeting on March 29, Banerjee had alleged that persons in ED and CBI custody were pressurized into naming him as part of the case.Subsequently, another accused in the case, Kuntal Ghosh, had also alleged that he was being pressured by investigators to take the name of Banerjee. Ghosh was in ED custody after his arrest till February 2, and was in CBI custody from February 20 to 23..[Read Order]