Kolkata: West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday administered the oath of Prakash Shrivastava the new Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court.
Citing the article 219 of Constitution, the Governor had administered the oath.
It can be recalled that citing article 188 the Governor Jagdeep Dhankar had administered the oath of new MLA of West Bengal including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Notably, a tussle between the Governor and ruling Trinamool Congress remained unabated since 2019, after Dhankhar became the Governor. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had several times had written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over removal of Dhankhar as he allegedly had interfered in the state government’s functioning.
Despite several requests from the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Speaker Biman Bandhopadhyay that the Governor should maintain the ‘traditional’ practice of oath taking and allow the Speaker to administer the oath, the requests fell on deaf ears.
Constitutional expert AK Ganguly said that the new change is ‘childish’.
“The provision under section 188 is there. It is also applicable for appointing a new Justice in the High Court. Normally, the Governor appoints the Speaker to appoint them. This change is childish,” said Ganguly.
