The Centre on Thursday cleared the proposal for moving a Presidential Reference against Justice AK Ganguly to remove him from the post of West Bengal Human Rights Commission Chairman on grounds of misconduct following allegations of sexual harassment against a law intern.
“The Union Cabinet has given its nod to the Home Ministry’s proposal for sending a Presidential reference to the Chief Justice of India,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told reporters here.
The decision came after the Home Ministry placed before the Cabinet the views of Attorney General G E Vahanvati that a case can be made out against Ganguly.
The Presidential Reference is expected to be filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court later this week. A Supreme Court panel had prima facie found truth in the allegation by the intern terming Justice Ganguly’s conduct to amount to “unwelcome sexual behaviour”, but Justice Ganguly has consistently denied the same. The panel’s recommendation was informal in nature and not legally binding.
The scrutiny on the Presidential Reference will not be limited to the sexual harassment charge. A host of other issues also form part of the Cabinet note prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs. These also include some other allegations leveled by the West Bengal Government in a representation to the President. The Mamata Banerjee Government has accused Justice Ganguly of accepting a paid employment to arbitrate for a private party while heading the West Bengal human rights panel. Incidentally, it was during this arbitration held at a hotel in Delhi, Justice Ganguly was accused of “unwelcome behaviour” against the intern.
In addition, Ganguly has been accused of accepting hospitality of an organization in Pakistan during his trip to the neighbouring country. He even failed to produce any account of the expenses to the state government, the representation of WB government said.
President Pranab Mukherjee had forwarded the representation by West Bengal Government to the Centre. Now that the Reference has got the Cabinet nod, it will be returned to the President for filing it in the Supreme Court. The apex court has the option either to return the reference without answering the questions of law framed. But in the event, it is entertained, Justice Ganguly and the victim-intern will get an opportunity to present their case. Political parties and women’s rights activists have demanded that Justice Ganguly resign as head of the West Bengal human rights commission in the light of the allegations being confirmed by a SC inquiry panel that indicted the judge for “unwelcome sexual behaviour”.
The case is expected to set a benchmark on behavior of judges and Chairpersons of human rights panel and would set a precedent if the reference finally succeeds and leads to the removal of Justice Ganguly. So far, Ganguly has denied the allegations and complained of being targeted due to bold decisions taken by him during his tenure in Supreme Court. In this regard, he even wrote to CJI and President of India venting grievance against the three-judge panel and procedure followed to come to this conclusion.