Mamata Banerjee had already addressed a petition to Rajesh Bindal, the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, pleading with him to reassign her Election Petition to a different judge (not Justice Kausik Chanda) in order to avoid prejudice against herself.
The Calcutta High Court fined West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Rs 5 lakh on Wednesday for “casting a bad light on the judiciary.”
The order was issued by a single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court led by Justice Kausik Chanda, who recused himself from hearing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s election petition challenging BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s victory in the Nandigram Constituency in the recent state assembly elections. According to the high court bench, the money would be utilised to help lawyers’ families who have been harmed by COVID-19.
Justice Kausik Chanda was hearing Banerjee’s petition seeking his recusal from hearing her case contesting BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s victory in the recent state assembly elections in the Nandigram Constituency.
It should be remembered that Suvendu Adhikari defeated Mamata Banerjee by roughly 1956 votes in the election.
The Chief Minister had already filed an application objecting to Justice Chanda hearing her case, citing “likelihood of prejudice” due to his past affiliations with the BJP as a lawyer.
“The regrettable part is that the letter addressed to the acting Chief Justice was leaked with very confidential contents maligning me,” the judge added, expressing his deep disgust with the situation. “I can’t get myself to believe that there is a conflict of interest. The applicant has an excessively pessimistic impression of a judge’s integrity. ‘However, I will recuse myself from hearing the matter,’ stated Justice Kausik Chanda. “He went on to say, “A intentional or conscious attempt was made to influence my judgement.”
The judge opted to withdraw himself from the case so that “troublemakers” would not be able to prolong the debate. “If such an unnecessary difficulty continues during the trial, it will be adverse to the interests of justice,” Justice Chanda remarked as he walked away from the case. Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal will be tasked with assigning the case to a different bench.
Mamata Banerjee had already addressed a letter to Rajesh Bindal, the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, pleading with him to reassign her election appeal to a different judge (not Justice Kausik Chanda) in order to avoid prejudice against herself.
