Calcutta High Court’s Witty Exchange With TMC MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay
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During a criminal contempt hearing, Calcutta High Court judges engaged in playful banter with TMC MP Kalyan Bandyopadhyay. The Court responded sharply to comments about judicial ethics and retirement laws.
Kolkata: Today, on June 23, in the latest hearing of Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh, through his counsel Senior Advocate and Member of Parliament Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, addressed the Calcutta High Court and offered an unconditional apology if the Court found his actions to be in contempt.
Opening his arguments before the special bench of Justices Arijit Banerjee, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, and Rajarshi Bharadwaj,
Bandyopadhyay stated,
“Before I start anything, I should have said it first, I tender my unqualified apology to my lordships’ court, if I have committed contempt of court.”
Despite expressing regret, Bandyopadhyay firmly contested the jurisdiction of the bench to hear the contempt case. He asserted that the petition was procedurally flawed and therefore not maintainable.
According to him, the Calcutta High Court Contempt of Court Rules, 1975 clearly require a judicial order for the initiation of contempt proceedings, which he argued was absent in this case.
He pointed out that the proceedings were based on an administrative directive from Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and not a judicial order, saying,
“Proceedings have been initiated in a pure and simple administrative order by the Chief Justice. He has constituted this bench in his administrative, it is not a judicial order.”
The Court heard the preliminary submissions and has scheduled the matter for further arguments at a later date.
These proceedings were initiated after a group of lawyers reported that a protest took place outside the chambers of senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya on April 25. During the demonstration, a photograph of Justice Biswajit Basu was allegedly defaced.
The protest was in connection with an ongoing court case concerning alleged irregularities in the recruitment process for teaching and non-teaching positions in West Bengal in 2016.
He told the Court in a light and humorous tone that the agenda of the meeting was quite interesting but feared that the judges might not like it if he revealed the topic.
With a smile, he said,
“Do you know the agenda? You will be annoyed with me. The agenda is the ethics of High Court and Supreme Court judges.”
In response, Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharya gave a witty reply, saying,
“You create the law and then challenge it before the Court.”
Bandyopadhyay, continuing the friendly exchange, then revealed another part of the meeting’s agenda.
He said,
“Secondly, the agenda is no post appointment retirement [for Supreme Court and High Court judges].”
He added with a grin that even if Parliament passed such a law, it would not survive a legal test in court.
He remarked,
“We will make it, you will strike it down.”
Case Title:
In Re:– Suo Motu Proceedings by Hon’ble Court No. 1 with CRLCP 7 of 2025; In Re:– Court on its own motion: Raju Das & Ors.
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