Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay has been in the news lately in the state owing to his stand on the alleged educational irregularities. The issue relates to allegations of illegalities and corruption in the Teacher Eligibility Test 2014 that was conducted in 2016. The Calcutta High Court initially ordered a CBI probe into the matter in April 2022, following which it later cancelled the appointment of 269 teachers on the ground of illegality in June 2022.

Repeated run-ins with the state government 

A High Court judge since May 2018, Justice Gangopadhyay has sparked rows by ignoring orders of larger Benches, giving an interview to a television channel, and issuing directions to the Supreme Court registry. Since 2022, he has passed several orders directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to investigate the alleged school jobs scam in West Bengal. In September 2022, Justice Gangopadhyay who was then hearing a batch of pleas in connection with the alleged school jobs scam gave an interview to prominent Bengali news channel where he openly questioned the finances and wealth of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee. Abhishek Banerjee is the ruling party’s second-in-command as well as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew. In yet another separate, unrelated case he made a remark about a certain nephew accumulating wealth.

The Supreme Court incident!

The Supreme Court objected to the interview given by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay. The apex court observed that sitting judges should not give interviews to TV channels. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud sought a report from the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court to verify whether he had indeed given an interview. Thereafter, the Supreme Court made it clear that Justice Gangopadhyay would not be allowed to continue hearing petitions related to the alleged scam if he had given the interview. Eventually, the CJI ordered the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court to assign the matter to another Bench.

However, within a few hours of the Supreme Court’s order, Justice Gangopadhyay suo motu passed an order that directed the Secretary General of the Supreme Court to furnish the report and the official translation of his interview. Justice Gangopadhyay’s suo motu order led the apex court to have a special late evening sitting to stay it.  A Division Bench of Justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli thereafter observed that the High Court judge’s order was “against judicial discipline”. Justice Gangopadhyay responded to this with, “Supreme Court jug jug jiyo (Long live Supreme Court).” Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay announced his resignation stating that he will resign from the post of Justice on coming Tuesday and will answer questions from the media on the same day. Justice Gangopadhyay said, “I will resign from the post of Justice of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday and answer all your queries on that day.”

He has informed that he would submit his resignation to the President of Indian and send a copy to the Chief Justice of India and Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court. Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay is scheduled for retirement later this year in the normal course. It is well-known that he has had run-ins with the c (TMC) government for almost two years now. He has given hints that he may join electoral politics after his retirement.