The dispute between the division bench decision and the single-judge bench order from the Calcutta High Court regarding the fake caste certificate case in West Bengal will be heard by the Supreme Court today.
In a special sitting today, a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud is scheduled to hear the case.

The judges on the bench are CJI Chandrachud, Justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, Surya Kant, and Aniruddha Bose.

The case, titled “In Re: Orders of Calcutta High Court dated January 24, 2024, and January 25 and Ancillary Issues,” resulted from disagreements between orders made by the division bench and single judge bench of the Calcutta High Court.

In his ruling, Chief Justice Soumen Sen of the division bench was charged by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay with working for a political party in the state of West Bengal.”

Judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, sitting alone, had instructed the CBI to start looking into the fake caste certificate case, ignoring the division bench order of the Calcutta High Court.

According to Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Justice Sen is blatantly representing a political party in the West Bengal State, and as such, the decisions made by the bench under Justice Sen’s leadership need to be reconsidered should the Supreme Court find otherwise.

He went on to say that Justice Sen committed misconduct and that his actions were motivated by a desire to keep a certain political party in power.

The issue arose from a High Court petition alleging that numerous people were routinely given false caste certificates in order to facilitate their admission to medical programs.

On January 24, Justice Gangopadhyay’s one-judge bench requested that the West Bengal Police turn over relevant documents to the CBI. A division bench consisting of Justice Sen and Uday Kumar heard the case after some time, and their decision to stay the single judge’s order was made.

Once more taking up the case, Justice Gangopadhyay’s single-judge bench requested that the West Bengal police provide CBI with paper work. On Thursday, the division bench disapproved of the decision made by the single judge bench.

On January 25, the lone judge heard the case once more and made some comments critical of Justice Sen.