Plea Filed In Calcutta HC To Direct Advocate General To Decide On Sanction For Contempt Against Derek O'Brien, Ashok Deb

Two separate petitions have been moved before the Calcutta High Court seeking directions to be issued to the Advocate General of West Bengal Kishore Datta to decide on the applications filed before him seeking permission to initiate contempt of court proceedings against Member of Parliament Derek O'brien and West Bengal Bar Council Chairperson, Ashok Kumar Deb. Both Deb and O'brien belong to the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) party.

Pursuant to Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, the consent of the Advocate General is required before the High Court can adjudicate upon a criminal contempt of court petition moved by a private individual. 

The petitioners Vijay Kumar Singhal and Debapriya Samanta stated that they had sent applications to the Advocate General for initiation of contempt proceedings against Deb and O'brien respectively for their remarks against the Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Rajesh Bindal and sitting judge of the High Court Justice Kausik Chanda.

In June 2021, Ashok Kumar Deb in his capacity as the Chairman of Bar Council of West Bengal had addressed a letter to Chief Justice of India, NV Ramana asking him to remove the Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Rajesh Bindal.

"Justice Bindal is a partial, unfair and biased judge whose continuance at High Court interferes with fair and impartial dispensation of justice," the letter by Deb had stated.

Furthermore, advocate Debapriya Samanta in the letter addressed  to the Advocate General had highlighted two tweets of Derek O'brien published on June 18 against Justice Kausik Chanda of Calcutta High Court questioning his impartiality since the judge had participated in various BJP events during his tenure as a lawyer. The letter had further stated that through the aforementioned tweets Mr. O'Brien sought to create an impression in the minds of the general public that Justice Chanda and the Court are prejudiced and that Justice Chanda only acts to protect the interests of the BJP.

It may be noted that the Central Government has recently appointed Justice Kausik Chanda as a permanent judge of the Calcutta High Court, accepting a recommendation made by the Supreme Court collegium in this regard. 

The petitioners had also sent a reminder letter to the Advocate General on July 15 to take note of their earlier letters and expeditiously arrive at a decision regarding initiation of contempt proceedings.

Having received no response even to the reminder letter, the petitioners had moved the High Court vide the instant petitions.

"That it is a trite proposition of law that one has the right to know the outcome of an exercise of discretion so that one can understand whether one possesses or does not possess the rights sought to be claimed before the administrative authority and act accordingly. Hence, the petitioner has the right to know if he has the right to initiate contempt proceedings', the plea stated.

The petitioners therefore prayed for a writ of mandamus requiring the Advocate General to arrive at a decision on the permission sought by the petitioners for initiating contempt proceedings.