Calcutta HC Imposes Rs 5 Lakh Fine On Mamata Banerjee

Mamata Banerjee Fined: On Wednesday, the Calcutta High Court pressed a penalty of Rs. 5 lakh on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for seeking recusal of Justice Kaushik Chanda from her poll petition over the judge's alleged connections with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mamata Banerjee had requested the High Court to remove Justice Kaushik Chanda from hearing her case against BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s election victory in Nandigram. Banerjee's counsel had appealed for the transfer of the case from Justice Kaushik Chanda's bench citing "conflict of interest" as they claimed that Justice Chanda has been seen with BJP leaders quite often.

Later Justice Chanda himself rejected the application of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo and also imposed a fine of Rs. 5 lakh on her. However, he has decided to not hear the case any further on his own personal discretion and released the case from his bench.

Before withdrawing from the case, the judge made observations, accusing Mamata Banerjee of a "preplanned move to malign a judge" and of violating her constitutional duty. "Such calculative, psychological and offensive attempt to seek recusal need to be firmly repulsed and a cost of Rs. 5 lakh is imposed upon Petitioner," Justice Chanda ordered.

Justice Kaushik Chanda during the hearing on Wednesday also remarked, “If a person appears for a political party, it is uncommon but he lays aside his bias while hearing a case. In this case, pecuniary interest does not arise". He further added, “A deliberate and absolute attempt was made to affect my decision even before the case was heard.”

“It is preposterous to suggest that a judge who has an association with a political party for a case. A judge cannot be seen to be biased because of the litigant's view,” the judge said in a statement while announcing his verdict. The High Court also took objection to the manner in which the demand was made. “Immediately after June 18 hearing, TMC leaders were ready with my photos and put out tweets of my association with BJP,” observed Justice Chanda.

In her appeal, Banerjee stated that "Justice must not only be done; it must also be seen to be done," while emphasising the need to "sustain the confidence of the common masses in the judiciary".

The Bar and the Bench defended Justice Chanda by arguing that he had served as the Additional Solicitor General for the BJP government before he was promoted to the Calcutta High Court Bench. Therefore, he has had past ties with the party but this does not translate into an underlying bias on the part of the judge in an ongoing case.

Recently, Mamata Banerjee won West Bengal and become the Chief Minister of her home state for the third time, beckoning a grand win for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) male might. But she lost the elections from her own seat Nandigram.

What is the case about?

In December 2020, Adhikari defected to the BJP, becoming TMC’s biggest contender in the Bengal elections. In the wake of his defection, other turncoats followed and so did criticism from senior TMC members against Banerjee. This set the ball rolling for a political battle between Adhikari and Banerjee, who said she would file her nomination from Nandigram instead of her usual Bhawanipore.

Later on, after it was reported that Mamata Banerjee won Nandigram, the Election Commission announced her rival and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari as the final winner. She lost the seat by 1957 votes. She had then filed a petition against Adhikari's win in the High Court.