Bar Council of West Bengal writes to CJI NV Ramana seeking removal of Calcutta High Court Acting CJ, Rajesh Bindal

The Bar Council of West Bengal has written a strongly worded letter to Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana requesting him to remove the Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Justice Rajesh Bindal from the High Court. .The letter set out a slew of grounds for making the request including alleged biased and improper listing and hearing of various cases like Narada scam, Mamata Banerjee's election petition and a case on wastage of medicines in the State. .The letter highlighted the listing and manner of hearing of recent Narada case to claim that Justice Bindal is heavily biased and partial in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party. "Justice Bindal is a partial, unfair and biased judge whose continuance at High Court interferes with fair and impartial dispensation of justice," the letter said. .The letter is signed by Chairperson of the Bar Council of West Bengal Ashok Kumar Deb, who is also a Member of Legislative Assembly belonging to the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) party. .In this regard, the letter referred to the manner in which the CBI's transfer plea in Narada case came to be taken up in the first place by the High Court by way of a letter by the CBI. Based on the same an interim order for bail granted by special CBI court in favour of four All India Trinamool Congress leaders was stayed, it was pointed out. The conduct of Justice Bindal was denounced by sitting judges of the High Court with Justice Arindam Sinha even writing a letter to that effect, the Bar Council said. Further, when the above case went before a 5-judge Bench headed by Justice Bindal, it allowed repeated requests by CBI to file affidavits but declined similar requests by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Law Minister Moloy Ghatak though serious allegations were made against them by the CBI. .The letter also said that there are pictures of Justice Bindal visiting West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankar which are widely published on social media. "The picture coupled with the conduct of Justice Bindal seem to suggest that he is doing the bidding of the Governor at Calcutta High Court," the letter said. Further, by various social media posts an impression is sought to be given that Justice Bindal is BJP's man through and through. .Pertinently, the letter also alluded to how Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's election petition came to be listed before Justice Kausik Chanda. Elections petitions are civil matters heard by single judges presiding over original side of Calcutta High Court. It was, therefore, filed and mentioned before single judge Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. "In the meantime, Justice Bindal snatched away the matter from Justice Bhattacharya's determination and assigned the same to his favourtie judge, Justice Kausik Chanda," the letter alleged. This has led to a storm in Calcutta High Court since Justice Chanda's long standing association with BJP is well known, the Bar Council further claimed. ."We request Your Lordship to take immediate steps for removal of Justice Rajesh Bindal as judge of Calcutta High Court so that the majesty and sanctity of Calcutta High Court is upheld," the letter requested. .When I first appeared for BJP, judge did not know full name of the party: Justice Kausik Chanda recounts his initial days as BJP lawyer in Bengal.Justice Bindal hails from Punjab & Haryana High Court where he was appointed judge in 2006. He was appointed as the acting Chief Justice of the Common High Court for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Union Territory of Ladakh on December 8, 2020.Later, he was transferred to the Calcutta High Court on January 5, 2021..Justice Bindal took over as Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court after Justice Thottathil B Radhakrishnan demittex office on April 28, 2021..[Read Letter]