Justice Kausik Chanda of the Calcutta High Court recused himself from hearing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's petition challenging the election of BJP leader BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram.
In June, Mamata’s counsel sought Justice Chanda’s recusal, referring to publicly available material that allegedly showed his “close personal, professional, pecuniary and ideological relationship” with the BJP.
The Trinamool Congress had earlier released photographs of Justice Chanda with West Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh.
On Wednesday, Justice Chanda said that “trouble-mongers” will try to keep the controversy alive if he doesn’t recuse from the case.
Justice Chanda also imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on Mamata Banerjee and said such calculative, psychological and offensive attempt to seek recusal need to be firmly repulsed.
He said the money will be deposited with the Bar Council of West Bengal within 2 weeks and can be used for families of advocates who succumbed to Covid-19.