'Reduced to mockery': Calcutta HC judge questions handling of Narada case

KOLKATA: A day when the five-member bench of the Calcutta High Court granted bail to heavyweight Trinamool Congress leaders accused in Narada bribery case, a letter surfaced from a judge who strongly objected to manner in which the transfer plea filed by the CBI in the case was listed before a division bench as a writ petition.

Justice Arindam Sinha, a sitting judge of the High Court who has been part of the Narada hearing right from the beginning, wrote a letter to Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, criticising the manner in which the court entertained the Central Bureau of Investigation's (CBI) plea for staying the lower court's ruling that granted bail to the arrested politicians.

"Our conduct is unbecoming of the majesty the high court commands. We have been reduced to a mockery," Justice Sinha wrote in his letter. In his two-page letter, a copy of which is available with IANS, Justice Sinha wrote that the Appellate Side Rules of the High Court, which govern the procedure of listing such matters, require that a motion seeking transfer either on the civil or the criminal side, has to be heard by a single judge.

The transfer petition under Section 407 of the Code of Criminal Procedure was taken up by a division bench of the High Court on May 17 based on an email sent by the CBI to the court and a mentioning made by Additional Solicitor General Y.J. Dastoor. "However, the first Division Bench took up the matter treating it to be a writ petition. Even a writ petition under Article 228 of the Constitution should have gone to the single judge having determination," he said.

The communication (sent by the CBI to High Court on May 17) could not have been treated as a writ petition simply because no substantial question as to the interpretation of law has been raised, he added. "The mob factor may be a ground on merits for adjudication of the motion but could the first division bench have taken it up and continue to hear it as a writ petition is the first question," the letter said. (IANS)

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