Calcutta HC dismisses CAT's principal bench order to transfer ex-WB Chief Secy Alapan Bandyopadhyay matter to Delhi

In a slight relief, Calcutta High Court on Friday dismissed Central Administrative Tribunal's principal bench order to transfer former West Bengal Chief Secretary Alapan Bandyopadhyay matter to Delhi.

The Court directed the Kolkata Bench of CAT to decide the case on an expedited basis. Bandyopadhyay had moved the High Court, challenging the order.

The Court rejected the guidelines to transfer the case from Kolkata to Delhi.

The CAT Chairman had directed that the matter be transferred from the Calcutta Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal to the Principal Bench in Delhi. The transfer order was issued on October 22.

The Bench comprising Justices Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya and Rabindranath Samanta said, "The entire modus operandi adopted by the Centre reeks of mala fides. It is unfortunate that the Principal Bench of the CAT nurtured such efforts by passing the impugned transfer order, thereby paying obeisance to the diktat of the Centre, which has been repeatedly held by the Supreme Court and various High Courts not to be a favoured litigant. Rather, the responsibility of meting out justice and serving the cause of justice is on a much higher pedestal for the Centre than an ordinary individual litigant."

Bandyopadhyay was engulfed in a tussle between the Central government and the West Bengal government on May 28, 2021. The central government initiated action against him after he failed to be present to receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Kalaikunda airbase in West Midnapore. Back then, PM Modi had arrived in West Bengal to take stock of the situation post-Cyclone Yaas.

Soon after, Bandyopadhyay resigned and an inquiry was initiated against him by the Centre.

On June 2, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reiterated her support to her newly appointed Chief Advisor Alapan Bandyopadhyay and said the state government will always stand beside him after the Centre issued a show-cause notice to him under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.

( With inputs from ANI )

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