The Bench refused to hear the petition saying that since the appeal has not been confirmed or filed in the registry of the court, it cannot hear the prayer.
The Bench refused to hear the petition saying that since the appeal has not been confirmed or filed in the registry of the court, it cannot hear the prayer.
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on May 18 refused to hear an appeal by West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee challenging an order of a single bench directing him to appear before the CBI. School Service Commission (SSC) appointment scam,
Single Bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay Mr Chatterjee, who was the state’s education minister at the time of the alleged appointments, was directed to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation at his office here before 6 pm on Wednesday. He is now the Minister of Industries, Commerce and Parliamentary Affairs in the Mamata Banerjee cabinet.
Mr Chatterjee’s counsel moved a division bench headed by Justice Harish Tandon and sought a stay of the single bench order which directed the minister to appear before the CBI.
The Bench refused to hear the petition saying that since the appeal has not been confirmed or filed in the registry of the court, it cannot hear the prayer.
Earlier in the day, another division bench of the high court upheld a single bench order that had directed the CBI to probe alleged illegal appointments made by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on the recommendations of the SSC.
Soon after the division bench’s order, Justice Gangopadhyay directed Chatterjee to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation at its office in Kolkata before 6 pm on Wednesday in connection with the SSC appointment scam. The judge said he expected Mr Chatterjee to step down as minister in the interest of justice.
Terming the “irregularities” in the recommendation of appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff by the SSC as a “public scam”, the division bench, comprising Justice Subrata Talukdar and Justice AK Mukherjee, observed that a single bench of Justice Gangopadhyay ordered an inquiry. There was nothing wrong in giving. Involved in the alleged money trail. The division bench observed that no interference was required in the orders of the single bench.
Holding that the five-member committee to oversee the appointment process for the 2016 panel for recruitment of teachers for classes IX and X and Group C and D employees in government-aided schools was illegal, the single bench directed the then state education minister. was ordered to attend. before CBI
Earlier, the minister was directed by Justice Gangopadhyay to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation at his office in Lucknow’s Nizam Palace on April 12, but he was barred from a division bench on the order. Seven orders were passed by the single bench directing the CBI to investigate alleged irregularities in the appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff. Of these, one was in Group C, two in Group D appointments and four in teacher recruitment for classes IX and X.
On all these orders, earlier the division bench had stayed many appeals. While delivering its verdict on the appeals, the division bench accepted the recommendations of the Justice RK Bagh Committee set up by the court to prosecute the then senior officials involved in the scam.