SC judge recuses from hearing Mamata’s plea in Narada case

Kolkata: Supreme Court judge Justice Aniruddha Bose on Tuesday recused from hearing appeals filed by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata B...

Kolkata: Supreme Court judge Justice Aniruddha Bose on Tuesday recused from hearing appeals filed by the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and state Law Minister Moloy Ghatak about their role on the day four political leaders were arrested by the CBI in the Narada case.

On June 18, Justice Indira Banerjee had recused from hearing a plea seeking a CBI/SIT probe into the killings of two BJP workers during the post-poll violence in West Bengal.

On Tuesday, as soon as a vacation bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Bose assembled to begin the day’s proceedings, Justice Gupta said his brother judge is recusing himself from hearing these appeals. “It will be listed before some other bench. Brother Bose has some reservations,” Justice Gupta said.
The bench said the issue would be now placed before the Chief Justice N.V. Ramana who will take a decision with regard to the listing of the matter before another bench. The pleas may be listed for hearing during the day itself, the bench added.
The matter was then listed before a bench of Justices Vineet Saran and Dinesh Maheshwari in the afternoon.
The appeals challenge the Calcutta High Court order, which refused filing affidavits by Banerjee and Ghatak on their role on the day the CBI arrested four Trinamool Congress leaders on May 17.
The plea filed by the chief minister, through advocate Astha Sharma, said the High Court order is against all canons of substantial justice, especially when the CBI was able to not only get an urgent listing but also a stay on the order passed by the special judge, CBI on May 17, without filing any pleadings along with requisite affidavits, merely on the basis of an e-mail, without any notice to the parties concerned including the petitioner.
“The allegations made by the CBI against the petitioner, in relation to the events are contradictory and have been made in an attempt to mislead the court. Allegations regarding the petitioner’s presence at the Nizam Palace Complex, which houses the CBI office, are factual averments, and require response by the petitioner herein so as to refute the claim made by the CBI for the matter to be adjudicated on merits, especially when the allegation itself is contradictory in nature,” the plea said.