Setback for Bengal govt, Calcutta HC upholds CBI probe in teachers recruitment scam

Kolkata: As a major shock for the West Bengal government, a division bench of the Calcutta High Court Friday upheld an earlier order by a single-judge bench for a CBI probe in the primary teachers’ recruitment scam.

On June 13, 2022, the single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter and also ordered immediate removal of the- then chairman of West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) chairman, Manik Bhattacharya, also a Trinamool Congress MLA, from his chair.

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However, the state government, June 16, 2022 challenged both the orders at the Calcutta High Court’s division bench of Justice Subrata Talukdar and Justice Lapita Bandopadhyay. On Friday, both the earlier orders of the single-judge bench were upheld by the said division bench.

The division bench had also upheld Justice Gangopadhyay’s order for a court- monitored probe by CBI. Welcoming this move, senior advocate of Calcutta High Court and the CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member, Bikash Bhattacharya said that this court-monitored inquiry by the central agency is extremely important since the judicial pressure remains on the agency to accelerate the probe speed and complete the investigation in appropriate time.

“Some were trying to create public opinion that Justice Gangopadhyay was transgressing his limits while passing motivated orders. I hope that they will be silenced now after the earlier order by Justice Gangopadhyay has been upheld by the division bench,” he said.

BJP’s national vice president and party MP, Dilip Ghosh said that he is happy that the state government’s attempts to stall the central agency probe in the matter has been dismissed by the division bench. “Previously too, there had been many instances where the state government and the state’s ruling party had tried to stall central agency enquiries and at times, they were successful. But this time, their similar attempts had been foiled by the division bench,” Ghosh said.

Till the report was filed, there was no official comments from Trinamool Congress on this development.

IANS