In a sudden turn of events, the Calcutta High Court has made a U-turn on the issue of granting pension benefits to retired justice C.S. Karnan by attributing the delay to a decision taken by the West Bengal government and not by the court. Karnan declared he was ready for a "fight" with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Last week, the Calcutta High Court told justice Karnan that the then chief justice of Calcutta High Court, Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya, had passed an order that prohibited the release of pensions and other retirement benefits to the former as he had not vacated the house given to him while he was a judge of the court.
The 'change' of decision took place after the retirement of justice Bhattacharya last Monday, and after Karnan filed a criminal complaint against Bhattacharya, which THE WEEK reported on September 27.
Justice Karnan filed his complaint on September 24, the same day justice Bhattacharya retired.
The second letter from Calcutta HC to justice Karnan | Supplied
Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court Subhasish Dasgupta wrote to justice Karnan, "My lord, in continuation of this court's letter, I am further directed to inform your lordship that the honourable chief justice, Calcutta High Court, is pleased to clarify the meaning of no payment as communicated in the following manner. No payment to be made by the state government on requisition being made by the High Court administration. High Court has nothing to do with pensions/or pensionary benefits of the High Court judge, which is exclusively domain of the Govt [Central]."
It was surprising that the Calcutta High Court said that the West Bengal government has not released Karnan's pensions and benefits while admitting the fact that the matter falls into the exclusive domain of the Central government.
Justice Karnan told THE WEEK that the Central law ministry has approved all his pension benefits after getting a nod from the president of India and accountant general.
Reacting to this, Karnan said, "I initially thought that the pension was held up because of my illegal judicial custody last year. Calcutta High Court reminded me that it was because of me not vacating my residence in Kolkata, which is exclusively a matter between me and the landlord."
Calling the "faux pas" of the Calcutta High Court as nothing but an example of the pathetic state of the judiciary in India, Karnan said, "Look how overnight, they could change their position so quickly. It was an erroneous administrative decision by the former chief justice of Calcutta High Court."
The 1st letter from the Calcutta HC to justice Karnan | Supplied
Interestingly, the Calcutta High Court had in its earlier order said, as quoted by the registrar general, "His lordship (chief justice) is pleased to pass the order as follows. No payment would be released until the flat in occupation is vacated and possession thereof is given to landlord/housing department."
Karnan squarely blamed the government of Mamata Banerjee for the mess and criticised Bhattacharya for entering into “dirty” politics played by the state government.
"It's clear that madam and honourable chief minister [Banerjee] does not like my presence in Kolkata. Is that because I floated my political party in the city where I stayed as a senior judge? I am ready for a fight with her. But I took pity at the fact that Calcutta High Court entered into it. Why would such an institute like the High Court burden itself with the diktat coming from state government and pass such an awful administrative order?" asked Karnan.
The retired judge said he would write to the chief secretary of West Bengal government to release his pension and other benefits immediately and leave the matter of residence between him and landlord as the apartment is not owned by the West Bengal government or any agency run by it.
