AK Ganguly case: Government to take call on Thursday on sending presidential reference

NEW DELHI: The cabinet will on Thursday take up a proposal for removing former Supreme Court judge A K Ganguly, who has been accused of sexual harassment, from the chairmanship of West Bengal’s Human Rights Commission, even though the home ministry, which has drafted the proposal, is torn on whether it can stand legal scrutiny.

Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde confirmed to ET that the cabinet will take up the issue of sending presidential reference to the Supreme Court seeking’s Ganguly’s ouster, but was noncommittal when asked if such a reference would hold ground in the absence of a legal complaint by the victim.

“The Cabinet will take a call on that,” he said. MHA officials say political considerations could play a part in what the government decides in this matter, citing the Congress’ keenness to appease Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee who has made no secret of her desire to see Ganguly go and even wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee against him.

In her letter, Banerjee had alleged that Ganguly had been indicted by a SC panel for sexual misbehaviour and also that he had taken paid arbitration work while heading the West Bengal Human Rights Commission and had travelled to Pakistan without proper government approvals. “All three matters feature in the cabinet note as the grounds for a presidential reference. Although the Attorney General had termed only the sexual harassment charge as a serious one, the government has put all three allegations in the note,” a ministry official said.

Delhi Police officials, meanwhile, said the woman, who used to work with Ganguly as a legal intern and had accused him of sexual harassment in a Delhi hotel, has filed no official complaint of the alleged misbehaviour that took place in 2012, despite multiple reminders. But the home ministry is of the opinion that her affidavit before a Supreme Court panel could be a “valid basis” for the cabinet to recommend sending a presidential reference to the Supreme Court.

“The court, through an earlier committee, has already gone into the allegations and examined the intern and based its observations on her affidavit. A new committee for a fresh inquiry upon the presidential reference may take reference from that,” an official said.