Supreme Court directs West Bengal govt to grant permission for Partha Chatterjee's trial

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the West Bengal government to grant permission within two weeks to initiate the trial against the state’s former education minister Partha Chatterjee and other co-accused in an alleged cash-for-jobs scam.

The directive came during a hearing on Chatterjee’s bail plea, with the division bench of Justices Surya Kant and N.K. Singh responding to arguments from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which claimed that the state had failed to provide the required sanction.

Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju told the court that the delay was hindering the investigation and unnecessarily prolonging the legal process. The court noted that once permission is granted, the trial against Chatterjee and the other accused can proceed in the trial court.

The Supreme Court has scheduled the next hearing for July 17, when it will consider the bail applications of Chatterjee and the eight other co-accused.

The CBI's investigation focuses on alleged recruitment irregularities within the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBPE). On December 27, the agency filed a chargesheet against former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Partha Chatterjee, accusing him of accepting bribes from more than 1,000 job seekers in exchange for promises of jobs.

Chatterjee was first arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in July 2022 during a money laundering probe linked to the suspected recruitment scam involving the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC). The Supreme Court later granted him conditional bail in this case in December last year.

Meanwhile, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday declined to hear a contempt of court petition concerning the SSC recruitment case, in which over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching staff positions were annulled.

The petition accused the SSC and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) of failing to comply with directives issued by both the High Court and the Supreme Court in connection with the job cancellations.

The petitioners argued before a division bench comprising Justices Debangsu Basak and Mohammad Shabbar Rashidi that the authorities had yet to begin recovering salaries from disqualified or "tainted" candidates.

In response, the SSC and the state’s education department contended that the contempt proceedings were not maintainable in the high court, as the core matter is already pending before the Supreme Court.

India