Judicial Appointments : Calcutta HC Seeks Personal Appearance Of Judicial Secretary For Making Incorrect Statements In Affidavit [Read Order]

Asking the Judicial Secretary of the State of West Bengal to make a personal appearance before the court, a division bench comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Suvra Ghosh said that it was "unfortunate" that an experienced judicial officer would act in such a "cavalier manner".

"This unfortunate state of affairs lead us to a prima facie view that the deponent who is an experienced judicial officer holding a responsible position had affirmed the affidavit in a most casual and cavalier manner. Under such circumstances, we are constrained not to rely on the affidavit submitted before us," it said.

The affidavit was submitted pursuant to an earlier order of the bench, whereby the Judicial Secretary was directed to submit an affidavit explaining the circumstances in which appointments had not been made to 23 posts in the cadre of District Judge (Entry Level) in WBJS Cadre till date.

On a perusal of the affidavit, the court noted the document described as Annexure "A-1" at page 12 of the affidavit did not tally with the averments made in paragraph 2 at page 6 of the said affidavit.

Under these circumstances, the bench has asked the concerned Judicial Secretary to appear in person and to file a more detailed affidavit, disclosing all relevant facts with correct annexures in relation to the matter.

It further directed that the Secretary will explain in the new affidavit as to how he affirmed the averments in paragraph 2 and 3 as true to his knowledge inspite of incorrect averments contained therein.

The matter will next be taken up on February 11.

Case Details:

Case Title: Mizanur Rahman alias Sk. Mizanur v. State of West Bengal

Case No.: CRM 33/2020

Quorum: Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Suvra Ghosh

Appearance: Public Prosecutor Saswata Gopal Mukherjee and Advocates Sukanya Bhattacharya and Md. Kutubuddin

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