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Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court has sought the Chief Justice of India’s intervention in response to the decisions of the High Court's division bench staying some of his recent orders.

According to a news report in India Today, the single bench of Justice Gangopadhyay had previously directed the CBI to investigate alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government schools, however, the order was stayed by the High Court’s division bench.

The single-judge bench had further demanded an accounting of one Shanti Prasad Singh’s movable and immovable assets in an alleged teacher recruitment case. However, the division bench stayed this order as well.

Following these incidents, Justice Gangopadhyay has sought the Supreme Court’s intervention, alleging that the division bench is repeatedly acting as a stumbling block to the single bench’s orders for the “benefit of someone else.”

“My hands are being tied again and again. I appeal to the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court to look into the matter and investigate the ongoing corruption,” stated the judge.

On Tuesday, Justice Gangopadhyay directed that the documents from the four CBI probe cases he filed in the last couple of recruitment cases, as well as the stay order granted by Justice Harish Tandon’s division bench in those cases, be forwarded to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of the High Court.

Justice Gangopadhyay further claimed that “let the country know what’s going on with the illegal labour. Allow the entire situation to be judged.”

At the same time, Justice Gangopadhyay stated in a written administrative directive that a lawyer had come to him on Tuesday to speak on behalf of an influential politician in all of these cases. He folded his hands and begged him to forgive him.

According to Justice Gangopadhyay, “I handed him a cup of coffee and told him he could go. If the Chief Justice wants to know who that person is, I will tell him.”

Meanwhile, Justice Harish Tandon’s division bench has ordered that the counter-sealed envelope containing former SSC adviser Shanti Prasad Singh’s assets not be opened.

Case Title - Md. Abdul Gani Ansari v. State of West Bengal & Ors.