Calcutta HC dismisses writ petition to remove Jagdeep Dhankhar as governor of West Bengal

|HT|

The Calcutta high court on Friday dismissed a writ petition filed by an advocate to remove Jagdeep Dhankhar as the governor of West Bengal. The petition, filed by advocate Ramaprasad Sarkar on February 8, had sought the court’s direction to the central government regarding Dhankar’s removal claiming the latter is acting as the mouthpiece of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In his petition, Sarkar had said Dhankhar is interfering in the functioning of the state and maligning the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government with his critical comments.

The petitioner had submitted that Dhankhar is "acting as the mouthpiece of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)".

He said Dhankhar was bypassing the state council of ministers and dictating officials directly, in “violation of the Constitution".

He said the Union government was not acting against Dhankhar "as the present governor is serving the political interest of the central government". On February 15, Dhankhar, who has had frequent run-ins with the TMC government over several issues ever since taking charge in 2019, urged Banerjee to visit him at the Raj Bhavan during the week to discuss several issues to avert a "constitutional stalemate".

Two days later, he requested Banerjee to provide information sought by him on various issues at the earliest, adding that his queries have not been responded to.

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