Dramatists were ready: Cal HC while imposing Rs 5 lakh cost on Mamata Banerjee

New Delhi, July 07: Im some stinging remarks, the Calcutta High Court said that dramatists were ready to launch a well rehearsed drama outside the court. The observations were made by Justice Kaushik Chanda who slapped cost of Rs 5 lakh on West Bengal Chief Minister, while seeking his recusal from the case challenging the Nandigram election result.

The HC imposed cost of Rs 5 lakh on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for seeking recusal of Justice Chanda. Mamata had sought for the recusal of Justice Kaushik Chanda alleging that he had links with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The court imposed the cost on the Bengal CM after she and the TMC made an attempt to portray the judiciary in bad light.

The plea filed by by Mamata challenging the election results at Nandigram will be heard by another Bench now. The court said that the cost be deposited with the Bar Council of West Bengal within 2 weeks and this could be used for families of advocates who lost their lives due to COVID-19.

The court said that such calculative, psychological and offensive attempt to seek recusal needs to be dealt with firmly. Dramatists were ready to launch a well prepared drama outside the court. Chief Nationalist Spokesperson and the leader of the petitioner's party were ready with two photographs of mine attending a programme of the BJP legal cell in 2016.

The aforesaid chronology of events that took place on June 18 clearly suggest that a deliberate and conscious attempt was made to influence my decision even before the recusal application was placed before me, Justice Chanda also said.