Trinamool Congress leader Kunal Ghosh on Monday told the Calcutta High Court that he is tendering his unqualified apology if the Court believes he has committed criminal contempt of court [Suo Motu Proceedings by Honble CT No 1 v Raju Das & Ors]. .Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, appearing for Ghosh, made the statement before a special bench of Justices Arijit Banerjee, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya and Rajarshi Bharadwaj. “Before I start anything, I should have said it first, I tender my unqualified apology to my lordships’ court, if I have committed contempt of court,” Bandyopadhyay said. .However, he challenged the special bench’s jurisdiction to deal with the contempt petition, arguing that it is not maintainable. Bandyopadhyay explained that according to the Calcutta High Court Contempt of Court Rules of 1975, the High Court can initiate contempt of Court proceedings on its own but Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam’s order instituting the proceedings against Ghosh and others does not reflect the initiation of a motion. “Proceedings have been initiated in a pure and simple administrative order by the Chief Justice. He has constituted this bench in his administrative, it is not a judicial order,” he said. The High Court heard his arguments in part and has listed the case for further proceedings on a later date. .The Court initiated suo motu proceedings after a group of lawyers complained that a mob protested outside the chambers of lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya on April 25. They allegedly defaced a picture of Justice Biswajit Basu. Ghosh was alleged to be part of the group. They were protesting against the court proceedings in a case related to the 2016 recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal. As many as eight people including Ghosh were issued rule of contempt in the case.
