SC removes Justice Ganguly from teacher recruitment scam case over interview dispute

The Supreme Court of India has ordered the removal of Justice Abhijit Ganguly from the bench hearing the case of teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal.

The decision came after allegations were made against Justice Ganguly for giving an interview to a private television channel. The Chief Justice of India, DY Chandrachud, directed the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to hear the appointment case and ordered it to be heard in some other bench.

The Supreme Court had asked for an affidavit from the Registrar of the Calcutta High Court and issued this order while hearing the same affidavit. The bench of Chief Justice Chandrachud alleged that Justice Gangopadhyay of the Calcutta High Court had given an interview to a TV channel during the hearing of the school recruitment corruption case.

The Chief Justice stated that judges cannot give interviews to TV channels about their pending cases, and if a judge has given an interview, they have lost the right to hear the case.

Trinamool Congress National General Secretary, Abhishek Banerjee, welcomed the Supreme Court's decision. He stated that he would not comment on the matter as the case was under consideration, but he welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court. Justice Abhijit Ganguly had ordered a CBI investigation into many cases related to the teacher recruitment scam, which led to the arrest of several ministers and TMC leaders.

The Supreme Court has ordered the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to transfer the case to another bench, but senior advocate Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya has clarified that the Supreme Court has only ordered the case related to Abhishek Banerjee to be transferred to another bench, not all cases.