Calcutta High Court Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay resigns; likely to contest polls

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 5 (ANI): Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay has stepped down as a judge of the Calcutta High Court.

Gangopadhyay had already conveyed his resignation to President Droupadi Murmu and planned to meet Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam later today for a “courtesy visit”.

He arrived at his chamber at the High Court in the morning, after which the resignation letter was sent.

There has been speculation that Gangopadhyay will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls from Bengal’s Tamluk constituency on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket. The Tamluk seat has been a bastion of the ruling Trinamool Congress in recent elections; the party has held it since the 2009 election.

Gangopadhyay, whose rulings on various education-related issues in the state stirred political debates, said he would address all inquiries related to his resignation after submitting the letter.

Hinting at joining politics, Ganguly had expressed his desire to serve the public, stating that it was his conscience calling.

“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,” he said while speaking to ANI on Tuesday.

He said the reason for him quitting the job was a call of his conscience and added he would work towards the welfare of the public.

However, responding to a question about joining any political party, he said that he has not decided yet.

Earlier in February, the Supreme Court tagged Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee’s plea to issue directions to take action against Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay for his alleged “continuous politically motivated interviews” in connection with sub-judice cases.