Supreme Court overturns the Calcutta High Court’s directive that West Bengal refrain from filing FIRs against CBI and ED officers investigating a school employment scam.
On Monday, the Supreme Court stayed the April 13 order of the Calcutta High Court directing the West Bengal police not to file any FIR against CBI and Enforcement Directorate officers investigating the school jobs-for-bribes scandal.
A bench composed of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwalam decided to hear the petition on April 24. The bench also stayed the direction of a single judge bench of the high court that TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee and Kuntal Ghosh, an accused in the case, can be questioned by the ED and the CBI, and that such “interrogation should be made soon.” “The petition was mentioned in the list. Dr. A.M. Singhvi has referenced the contents of the order and the directives by which the ED and CBI have been directed to submit a report regarding an investigation into Abhishek Banerjee’s public speech. Dated April 24, 2023. Until the next listing date, no action shall be taken against the petitioner in relation to the directives issued in the challenged order,” the Supreme Court ruled.
On April 13, the Calcutta High Court issued a number of directives prohibiting filing FIRs against CBI or ED officers investigating the educational recruitment scam of the West Bengal Central School Service Commission and the West Bengal Board of Primary Education without its permission.
It had requested that the federal government investigate the role of state TMC leaders in the case.
Senior attorney A M Singhvi, representing the TMC leaders, requested an immediate hearing on the petition challenging the high court’s ruling in the case.
The high court was hearing a petition concerning alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teaching and non-teaching employees in government-funded and aided schools in West Bengal.
Along with Banerjee, the high court had stated that federal authorities could shortly question Ghosh.
