High Court refuses interim stay on bench order for CBI probe
On April 28, the apex court had ordered that the proceedings pending before Justice Gangopadhyay against Abhishek Banerjee in the school jobs case be transferred to some other judge.
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The order was passed by the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha who was reassigned by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam following a directive of the Supreme Court. (Express Photo) The Calcutta High Court on Monday refused to put an interim stay on the previous order by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay for a CBI probe in the alleged recruitment scam in various municipalities of West Bengal.
The order was passed by the single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha who was reassigned by Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam following a directive of the Supreme Court.
The apex court had earlier put an interim stay on the order by Justice Gangopadhyay for a CBI probe in the alleged recruitment scam in municipalities that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) claimed to have found during its investigation into the alleged irregularities in the hiring in state government-run schools.
The SC had referred the matter back to the High Court. Also, the West Bengal government made a fresh appeal to Justice Sinha’s bench for reconsideration of the order for CBI probe in the alleged scam in civic bodies.
The hearing of the matter was held on Monday where state Advocate General SN Mookherjee argued that since law and order is a state subject, the state agencies should be given the opportunity to investigate this particular case instead of handing it over to a central agency. The ED lawyer argued that since irregularities in municipalities’ recruitment surfaced during the course of investigation into hiring in state-run schools, the agency informed the court about its findings.
The CBI counsel said since the agency has already filed an FIR in the matter, an interim stay will mean that it will have to start a fresh case. After hearing both sides, Justice Singh refused to grant an interim stay on the CBI probe in the matter. The matter will come up for hearing again on May 12 when the court is likely to pronounce a verdict.
‘Not saying at this stage charges are true’
Also, the single-judge bench of Amrita Sinha on Monday observed that Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee must cooperate in the investigation relating to a letter by expelled TMC youth wing leader Kuntal Ghosh alleging that the central agencies are putting pressure on him to name Banerjee in the alleged multi-crore recruitment scam in state-run schools in Bengal.
This was the first hearing in the matter by Justice Sinha’s bench to which the case was transferred from the bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay following the Supreme Court order last month. During the course of the hearing, Banerjee’s counsel argued that his client is not aware of what is the exact charge against him and also how his name got tagged in the case. Justice Sinha is learnt to have told Banerjee’s counsel that even she was not saying at this stage that the charges levelled against his client were true.
The court observed that no one is above the law and therefore Banerjee must cooperate in the investigation process. Advocate General SN Mookherjee did not make any argument, saying the state government has no submission in the matter since it is a “private” case.
On April 28, the apex court had ordered that the proceedings pending before Justice Gangopadhyay against Abhishek Banerjee in the school jobs case be transferred to some other judge.
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