SLPR 1553/2023
ITEM NO.15+48
COURT NO.1
SECTION II-B
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Petition(s) for Special Leave to Appeal (Crl.) No.1553/2023
(Arising out of impugned final judgment and order dated 08-12-2022
in WPA No.25522/2022 passed by the High Court at Calcutta)
THE STATE OF WEST BENGAL Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
SUVENDU ADHIKARI & ORS. Respondent(s)
(With IA No.23203/2023 – ADDITION/DELETION/MODIFICATION PARTIES, IA
No.23199/2023 – EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT,
IA No.23200/2023 – EXEMPTION FROM FILING O.T. and IA No.23198/2023
– PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ANNEXURES)
WITH S.L.P.(Crl.) Diary No.16617/2023
(With I.R. and IA No.87060/2023 – CONDONATION OF DELAY IN FILING
SLP and IA No.87062/2023 – EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE
IMPUGNED JUDGMENT)
Date : 28-04-2023 These matters were called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON’BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
HON’BLE MR. JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA
For Petitioner(s) Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Huzefa Ahmadi, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Sanjay Basu, Adv.
Mr. Soumen Mohanty, Adv.
Mr. Srisatya Mohanty, Adv.
Mr. Amit Bhandari, Adv.
Ms. Anju Thomas, Adv.
Ms. Rashmi Singh, Adv.
Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Adv.
Mr. Piyush Ray, Adv.
Ms. Mantika Haryani, Adv.
Mr. Shreyas Awasthi, Adv.
Mr. Himanshu Chakravarty, Adv.
Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv.
Mr. Devvrat Singh, Adv.
Ms. Muskan Surana, Adv.
Mr. Bhanu Mishra, Adv.
Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR
Mr. Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, Adv.
Mr. Chand Qureshi, AOR
For Respondent(s) Mr. P.S. Patwalia, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Nirnimesh Dube, AOR
Ms. Bansuri Swaraj, Adv.
Mr. Siddhesh Kotwal, Adv.
Mr. Rajdeep Mazumder, Adv.
Ms. Manya Hasija, Adv.
Ms. Ana Upadhyay, Adv.
Mr. Nihar Dharmadhikari, Adv.
Dr. Menaka Guruswamy, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Utkarsh Pratap, Adv.
Mr. Lavkesh Bhambhani, Adv.
Mr. Kunal Chatterji, AOR
Ms. Maitrayee Banerjee, Adv.
Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv.
Mr. Kshitij Singh, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1 Delay codoned.
2 On 16 December 2022, this Court while dismissing SLP (Crl) Diary No 40675
of 2022 [State of West Bengal vs Suvendu Adhikari and Others] instituted by
the State of West Bengal against an interlocutory order dated 8 December
2022 of the Single Judge in WPA No 25522 of 2022, indicated that it was
open to the State to move the learned Chief Justice of the High Court for
appropriate administrative directions for listing the proceedings before any
other Bench since the Single Judge who had passed the order challenged,
was at that stage not available for judicial work at Calcutta.
3 It appears that thereafter, the writ proceedings were taken up on 16
December 2022 by the Single Judge when the State was granted liberty to
file a formal application praying for leave to register an FIR.
4 Thereafter, another Special Leave Petition, namely, SLP (Crl) Diary No 40752
of 2022 [Birbaha Hansda vs Suvendu Adhikari and Others] was dismissed by
this Court on 2 January 2023 since the High Court of Calcutta was in seisin of
the proceedings and the next date of listing was 10 January 2023.
5 Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior counsel appears on behalf the State of
West Bengal. Mr Chanchal Kumar Ganguli, counsel appears on behalf of the
petitioner in SLP (Crl) Diary No 16617 of 2023. Mr P S Patwalia, senior
counsel appears on behalf of the first respondent (the petitioner before the
High Court). Dr Menaka Guruswamy, senior counsel appears for one of the
complainants.
6 The Court has been apprised of the fact that the State of West Bengal has moved certain applications before the Single Judge for variation of the stay which was granted on 8 December 2022. We request the Single Judge of the High Court to take up the applications for modification of the order dated 8
December 2022 expeditiously, and to dispose of the applications.
7 Both, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mr P S Patwalia are agreed in stating
that the respective parties will also be ready and willing to proceed to the
final arguments in the writ petitions.
8 The Special Leave Petitions are disposed of.
9 Pending applications, if any, stand disposed of.
(CHETAN KUMAR)
(SAROJ KUMARI GAUR)
A.R.-cum-P.S. Assistant Registrar