Calcutta High Court Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who is all set to make his political plunge resigning from his judicial role said on Monday that it was a call of his conscience and he wishes to go to larger people and larger area now. Gangopadhyay said he will be submitting his resignation on Tuesday.
Gangopadhyay told ANI, “I am going to resign from the post of a judge in Calcutta High Court. For the last two or more years, I have been dealing with some matters, especially education matters, regarding which a huge corruption has been discovered and unearthed. A large number of important persons in the education sector of this government are now languishing in jail, under trial.”
Gangopadhyay said he felt his duty as a judge was over and only a political plunge would give him the opportunity to work for helpless people in the state. “A judge deals with the matters that come before him if a person files a case. But in our country and also in our state, West Bengal, there are a large number of very helpless people whom I have found who cannot come to the court. So I have thought that only the political field can give people who want to take steps in respect of those helpless people a chance to act for them."
Gangopadhyay has issued several directives instructing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe allegations of irregularities in the recruitment processes of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal government-sponsored and -aided schools. However, his remarks in specific cases have also stirred dissatisfaction among certain leaders of the ruling party in the state.
Gangopadhyay is due for retirement in August this year.
Criticising Gangopadhyay’s decision, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said, “If sitting judges of the High Court and Supreme Court resign and join a particular political party, it means they were not delivering justice, but working for the party."
-with inputs from PTI, ANI
