Much to the relief of the Mamata Banerjee Government, a Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted an interim stay on the CBI investigation — into the School Service Commission recruitment scam — ordered earlier by a single bench of the same Court.
Granting an interim stay of three weeks the Division Bench directed the SSC to submit before it all the documents related to the matter in a sealed envelope which would be kept with the Registrar General of the Court.
Earlier in a damning order the single bench of Justice Abhijit Banerjee had ordered a CBI investigation into the alleged irregularities in the appointment of the Group C and D (non-teaching) staff in the Government aided schools that function under the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.
The appointments were made upon purported recommendations coming from unspecific sources in the SSC. While the Commission later said that no such recommendation had been made after May 4, 2019 the WBSEE which had directed the schools to provide appointment letters to the recruited persons said in an affidavit that it had done so following the stated recommendations vouching to produce such letters before the Court if asked to.
Subsequently the Court directed a CBI investigation into the irregularities asking the investigating agency to probe the money trail too if that had taken place. While the case related to the appointment of 25 people, the subsequent revelations suggested that more than 500 such people could have been appointed through the backdoor.
The SSC is already under the court scanner regarding another recruitment scandal related to the appointment of teaching staff. Justice Banerjee in his order had earlier directed the CBI to constitution a committee headed by an officer “not below the rank of a Joint Director with officers not below the rank of DIG to initiate the enquiry,” adding it was expected that “no person will be left out of the enquiry … the CBI should also enquire … as to whether there is any money trail in issuance of such recommendation letters and subsequent issuance of appointment letters…”
Meanwhile, a moribund Left Front descended on the streets of Kolkata after many months with hundreds of its cadres storming the SSC headquarters seeking removal of the top officials of the Commission and sacking of the State Education Minister.
Following a two-hour skirmish a dozen of Left supporters were injured and at least 250 members of CPI(M)’s students and youth arms Students Federation of India and Democratic Youth Federation of India were arrested and the streets they had blockaded cleared by the police. Presently the SFI and the DYFI cadres were protesting in front of the Bidhannagar and Rajarhat Police Stations seeking the release of the arrested people.