Former Calcutta high court judge Biswajit Basu resigned from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) tribunal on Saturday, citing personal reasons, becoming the fourth judge to step down.
“He submitted his resignation to high court Chief Justice Ravindra Vithalrao Ghuge, citing personal reasons. Former high court judge Indrajit Chatterjee quit around 20 days ago, saying he had difficulty travelling more than 20 km every day from his Salt Lake residence to the tribunal in South 24 Parganas district,” a court official said, requesting anonymity.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ousted the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in May this year and came to power. Justice Sivagnanam was also the first judge to pass an SIR tribunal order in early April. He directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to restore the name of a Congress candidate for the two-phase assembly elections, which were imminent at the time.
What is the use of this tribunal? Justice Basu is heading the inquiry commission which is probing crucial corruption cases. Probably he is not being able to spare time.”
On June 1, the Bengal cabinet, headed by chief minister Suvendu Adhikari, decided to form a commission headed by retired judge Basu to investigate institutional corruption, bribery, extortion, recruitment irregularities and other issues across state departments between 2011, (when the TMC came to power), and May 2026.
Reacting to former justice Basu’s resignation, All India Trinamool Congress leader and lawyer Baiswanor Chatterjee said, “The empanelled judges have heard very few appeals so far. State BJP spokesperson Sayantan Basu said, “There is no reason to read anything into this.
