Bengal: Why Justice Gangopadhyay's move to quit, join politics has created an uproar

The judge, who has been in the spotlight for his remarks against other judges, the ruling TMC and its leader Abhishek Banerjee, is due to retire by the end of the year.

Judge Gangopadhyay said that he would submit his resignation to the President on Tuesday and send a copy to the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the Calcutta high court. Hinting he may foray into electoral politics, Justice Gangopadhyay told reporters that after tendering in his resignation from the post of Justice of Calcutta High Court on Tuesday, he will answer all their queries on that day in front of legendary freedom fighter Masterda Surya Sen's statue in front of the high court buildings.

"Tomorrow will be my last day as a judge. I will not hear or adjudicate any matter and will release some cases which have been part-heard in my court," said the judge who has often been at the centre of political debate in Bengal

Joining politics

Earlier in an interview to ABP, Justice Gangopadhyay said he is quitting to join politics.

"I will join the political arena, but I will not say today which party I will start with," he had told the news channel.

A high court judge since May 2018, Justice Gangopadhyay has been controversial by overlooking orders of larger Benches, giving interviews on politics to a television channel, and issuing directions to the Supreme Court registry.

On his reason for joining politics, the judge told ANI, "In court, a judge deals with the matters which come before him if a person files a case. But in our country and also in our state, West Bengal, there are a large number of very helpless people. Which I have found...So I have thought that only the political field can give people who want to take steps in respect of those helpless people a chance to act for them..." He also called it a 'call of his conscience'.

School scam

Justice Gangopadhyay is famous for his directives on the alleged school jobs scam in West Bengal in 2022. He had orderded the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe the allegations of irregularities in the recruitment processes of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools. He terminated nearly 32,000 appointments of school teachers.

The manner in which he pursued the scam allegations made him a "crusader" in the eyes of some sections of society, particularly aspiring candidates for school jobs.

They even called him Aranyadeb (Phantom). But there are also other sections who accuse him of playing into the hands of the BJP in the politically charged state. Also, he openly made remarks against certain leaders of the ruling party in the state, which earned him the ire of the TMC.

MBBS reserved seat scam

There was also the alleged scam involving issuing caste certificates for students applying for reserved MBBS seat in West Bengal.

Justice Gangopadhyay had ordered a CBI probe and asked the police to hand over the case documents to the CBI. However, a division bench of the high court stayed his order.

In January, an irate Justice Gangopadhyay slammed his fellow high court judge Soumen Sen of “acting for a political party in the state” since he was part of the division bench.

Despite the stay, Justice Gangopadhyay took up the matter again and directed the state Advocate General to hand over the case documents to the central agency while insisting that he was not informed of the Division Bench’s stay order. Though the petitioner had not sought a CBI investigation, Justice Gangopadhyay ordered a probe to be conducted by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the CBI.

Finally, Supreme Court had to intervene and transferred to itself all petitions related to the matter.

Run-ins with TMC

What also made him remain in the news is his repeated brushes with the ruling TMC and particularly, its national general secretary, Abhishek Banerjee.

In September 2022, Justice Gangopadhyay gave an interview to a Bengali news channel and openly questioned the finances of TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee, who is Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s’s nephew. In a separate, unrelated case he made an oral remark about a “bhaipo (nephew)” amassing wealth.

He even alleged that Justice Sen had called Justice Amrita Sinha, who was hearing matters involving Abhishek Banerjee, to his chambers and allegedly instructed her that Abhishek must not be disturbed as he has a political future.

Law career

Justice Gangopadhyay, who practised law at the high court, joined the Calcutta High Court as additional judge on May 2, 2018. He was elevated as permanent judge on July 30, 2020, according to data in the high court's website.

Born in 1962 in Kolkata, Justice Gangopadhyay attended Mitra Institution (Main), a Bengali-medium school in south Kolkata. While doing his graduation from Hazra Law College in Kolkata, he took part in Bengali theatre.

After his graduation, he began his career as a West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS) Grade-A officer in Uttar Dinajpur district. However, he quit the civil service and began practising as a state advocate in the Calcutta High Court. He was elevated to the post of additional judge in 2018 and became a permanent judge two years later.

Political leaders react

Amid speculations whether he will join politics after resigning, leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, suggested that it would be prudent to wait for Justice Gangopadhyay to announce his future plans.

"Whether he will join politics or a social organisation or write a book or start an apolitical front to save Bengal is a decision which he will take," Adhikari told reporters.

The BJP MLA from Nandigram said he will react on behalf of the party after Justice Gangopadhyay's resignation is accepted.

Meanwhile, TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said, "It is good if such people join politics."

In a post on X, Ghosh said, "But whichever party you join, questions will be there on your previous orders and observations." Alleging that some of his observations were against the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, he wrote, "Whichever party you join, there will be allegations of corruption and other things there. Will you be able to accept those then?"

Describing Justice Gangopadhyay's decision to resign as personal, senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said it will be good if he joins politics.

"It will, however, be better if he joins politics as an independent and works to organise people against corruption," the CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP told PTI.

Bhattacharya, who has had a longstanding association with Justice Gangopadhyay, asserted that anyone who opposes corruption will stand by him, including the Left parties.

(With inputs from agencies)