Calcutta High Court judge fines Mamata Banerjee Rs 5 lakh

Imposing a fine of Rs five lakh on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Calcutta High Court judge Kaushik Chanda today recused himself from hearing her petition challenging the election of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari who defeated her in the assembly election in Nandigram.

"I have no personal inclination to hear out petitioner's case. I have no hesitation in taking up this case either. It is my constitutional duty to hear out a case assigned to me by the CJI. I have, however, decided to recuse myself from this case," Justice Chanda said.

In June, Mamata's lawyer had sought Justice Chanda's recusal, referring to a photo in public domain which showed him attending an event with West Bengal BJP unit President Dilip Ghosh and apprehending "bias" on the part of the judge, reports our New Delhi correspondent.

Observing that a deliberate and conscious attempt was made to influence his decision before the recusal application was placed before him, Justice Chanda imposed the fine for the manner in which his recusal was sought and directed that the amount be deposited to the Bar Council of West Bengal within two weeks.

The fine imposed on Mamata will be deposited with the Bar Council of West Bengal within two weeks and can be used for families of advocates who succumbed to Covid-19, the judge added.

"Such calculative, psychological and offensive attempt to seek recusal need to be firmly repulsed and a cost of Rs. five lakh is imposed upon the petitioner," he said in the order.

Justice Chanda said "trouble-mongers" will try to keep the controversy alive if he did recuse from the case.

He also said Mamata's objection to his confirmation as a permanent Judge of the High Court is not relevant to her recusal plea.

"Petitioner cannot seek recusal based on her own consent or objection with regard to appointment of a Judge. A Judge cannot be said to be biased because of a litigant's own personal action," he said.

Justice Chanda had on June 24 reserved order on Banerjee's application that the judge recuses himself from hearing her election petition apprehending bias on his part.

As the judge recused himself from the petition of Mamata, the matter will now be referred to Calcutta High Court's acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal for assigning it to a different bench.

Seeking his recusal, it was claimed that Justice Chanda was an active member of the BJP till his appointment as the Additional Solicitor General of India in 2015 and since the election of a BJP candidate was challenged, there were apprehensions of bias in the adjudication of the election petition.

Justice Chanda had said earlier that he was never a convenor of the BJP Legal Cell, but had appeared in many cases representing the party before the Calcutta High Court.

Mamata lost to Suvendu by less than two thousand votes in Nandigram.