Calcutta HC to take up TMC leaders’ application seeking recall of order cancelling bail on Friday

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered that it would first hear arguments on the application seeking recall of the Division Bench order of May 17 that cancelled the bail granted by the special CBI court to four Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders in relation to the Narada case.

The matter was heard by a five-judge Bench of Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justices IP Mukerji, Harish Tandon, Soumen Sen and Arijit Banerjee.

At the start of the hearing, the court allowed state of West Bengal to be made a party to the case.

Arguing for CBI, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said, "Today we are seeing political leaders indulging in orchestrated attempts. If this mobocracy is not checked by constitutional courts of the country, then tomorrow, if a gangster is arrested, his supporters will also gherao CBI office."

However, the court responded, "Unless you can show that alleged mobocracy had any effect on the (CBI Court) judge, how can you invoke Article 226?"

"The question is not whether the judge was under intimidation or not. The question is whether the perceived intimidation could shake the common man's faith in the system," was SG Mehta's reply, as per a report carried by Bar & Bench.

He went on to ask the court to forget the legality of the arrest and the question of bail, and to instead focus on the conduct of the ruling party ministers.

"Your Lordships are not being disturbed in a 5 judge composition to decide whether they can be granted bail. Your Lordships are being called upon to decide the larger issue of rule of law and whether it warrants this court's interference," he said.

Justice Mukerji, however, clarified that the five judge Bench is considering all issues including the bail aspect.

While the SG was making his arguments, Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandopadhyay, representing the arrested TMC leaders, interjected to make an emotional appeal before the Bench to consider the recall applications first.

"In a matter of personal liberty, the recall applications cannot be kept aside", he said.

The Advocate General also supported this request, referring to Article 226(3) of the Constitution, which says that applications seeking vacation of ex-parte stay must be decided within 14 days. So, as per the spirit of the Constitution, the recall applications need priority consideration, the AG said.

"Article 226(3) casts a duty on the court that a vacation application of an ex-parte order must be heard within 14 days. Therefore, our applications have to be heard first", Bandopadhyaya added to the AG's submission.

“In my 40 years, I have never seen an order passed by this High Court in violation of natural justice,” Bandhopadhyay added.

Representing the state of West Bengal, Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi said that even if bail is granted and the court later decides in favour of CBI on the "mobocracy" issue, then the TMC leaders can be put back in jail.

The judges then took a break to confer among themselves and then accepted the request.

It said that it would hear the recall application first thing tomorrow morning.

On the last date of hearing, the High Court was posed with the question as to whether it can stay a bail order under Section 407 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The four TMC leaders - Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee - were arrested by the CBI in connection with the Narada case on May 17.

A Special CBI Court had granted them interim bail that evening, but the same was stayed by a Division Bench of the High Court the very same day after a hearing that went on late into the evening.

The stay was granted after the CBI sought a transfer of the case from the court dealing with the same. It also cited a threat to the probe agency on the ground that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and TMC ministers were sitting on dharna outside the agency's office at Nizam Palace, causing obstruction to justice and creating an atmosphere of fear.

Later, the judges on the Division Bench, acting CJ Rajesh Bindal and Justice Arijit Banerjee disagreed on aspect of interim bail. This led to the constitution of the 5-judge Bench while the arrested leaders were placed under house arrest instead of lodging them in jail. This order was passed on May 21.

The CBI had then moved the Supreme Court on May 23 challenging the May 21 order passed by a Division Bench of the High Court which had directed that the four TMC leaders be placed under house arrest but the top court refused to entertain the same prompting the CBI to withdraw the plea.

The case will now be heard on May 28 at 12 pm.