© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday extended by four weeks its stay on a single-judge order directing West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with its probe into an alleged recruitment scam.
While the case was being heard, a commotion occurred outside the courtroom of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay who had told Chatterjee to appear before the central agency at 5:30 pm on Tuesday in connection with its investigation into alleged irregularities in recruitment by the School Service Commission (SSC). Pro-Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawyers tried to stop others from entering courtroom 17, including lawyers Bikash Bhattacharya and Bilwadal Bhattacharya.
In November last year, a single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered a preliminary inquiry by the CBI into alleged irregularities in the appointment of Group D staff in state-run schools under West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE).
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay passed the order while hearing a petition by job aspirants who claimed appointments were made after the panel set up for recruitments in Group D staff in state-run schools had expired.
The petitioners had initially produced before the court a list of 25 such appointees who were illegally recruited. Later they claimed that more than 500 additional such appointments were made.
The WBBSE, in an affidavit before the court, had claimed that all the appointments were given on the basis of recommendations by the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC). But the commission submitted an affidavit before the court stating that after May 4, 2019, when the panel for the Group D staff requirement had expired, no recommendation letter was issued by it.
What did the court say?
In February, a single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay passed an order asking the CBI to probe the alleged recruitment scam. However, on the same day the division bench comprising Justice Harish Tandon and Justice Rabindranath Samanta imposed a stay for two weeks on the single Bench’s order.
On March 31, the single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed the CBI to start the probe by midnight.
Earlier, Justice Gangopadhyay wrote to the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court bringing to their notice that decisions by his court, where he has directed a CBI probe, have been stayed by a Division Bench of the High Court.
Justice Gangopadhyay had also directed the CBI to question WBSSC former adviser Shantiprasad Sinha and four other members over the irregularities in the appointments. While Sinha faced CBI questioning, the others moved the division bench challenging the order.
However, the division bench of Justices Harish Tandon and Rabindranath Samanta recused itself from further hearing the matter on “personal ground”. Subsequently, a division bench of Justices T S Sivagnanam and Sabyasachi Bhattacharya too declined to hear the appeals. It was then assigned to a division bench of Justices Soumen Sen and A K Mukherjee, which too declined to hear the appeals.
Where does the case stand now?
The case was notified to be heard by yet another division bench comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Bivas Pattanayak on Tuesday. However, at the hearing, this bench too declined to hear the appeals, and placed the matters before the Chief Justice for reassignment. Finally, a fifth division bench of Justices Subrata Talukdar and Krishna Rao agreed to hear the matter.
However, another order of Justice Gangopadhyay directing the West Bengal SSC former Advisor S P Sinha to be called for questioning by the Regional Head of the CBI was stayed. However, a division bench of Justices Sen and Mukherjee stayed the order on the grounds that the matter could be heard by the regular Division Bench.
Finally, the division bench of Justices Talukdar and Rao upheld Justice Gangopadhyay’s orders on Sinha and former state education secretary A K Sarkar, but barred the CBI from taking them into custody.
On Tuesday, the Division Bench of Justices Subrata Talukder and Ananda Kumar Mukherjee had stayed Justice Gangopadhyay’s order, which had asked former state education minister Partha Chatterjee to appear before the CBI on the same evening. The court posted the matter for hearing for 10.30 am on Wednesday.
Extending the stay for four weeks, the judges said on Wednesday that the CBI cannot investigate the case till the matter was disposed of. The court ordered the Justice Ranjit Bagh Committee to investigate the alleged Group C scam. The committee had earlier conducted an inquiry into alleged irregularities in “Group D” recruitment.
Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inbox
