Judge has no business to give interview about pending cases, SC on job scam

The Supreme Court on Monday sought a report within four days from the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court whether Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay gave an interview to a news channel about the pending case related to the sensational school job-for-bribe case in West Bengal.

A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandachud and Justice P S Narasimha took strong note of the purported interview given by Justice Gangopadhyay to a news channel allegedly about the case, and said A judge has no business to give an interview about pending cases.

The bench asked the Registrar General of the high court to file a report after taking instruction of the judge on or before Thursday and fixed the plea of TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee for hearing a day after that.

On April 17, the top court had stayed the Calcutta High Court's April 13 order directing the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to interrogate Banerjee and Kuntal Ghosh, an accused in the case, and file a report based on that.

Prior to this, a single judge bench of the Calcutta High Court of Justice Gangopadhyay had also directed the West Bengal Police not to lodge any FIR against CBI and Enforcement Directorate officers probing the alleged scam.

The high court had taken note of the public speech of Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in which he had purportedly said that Ghosh, an accused in the case, was being pressured by central probe agencies to name him in the case.