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West Bengal: On Monday, In a major relief to the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal Government, the Supreme Court put an interim stay on the CBI probe into the role of West Bengal Government officials in the alleged teacher recruitment scam till further orders.
The apex court has directed the CBI not to take any precipitative steps. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra said it will hear the matter on May 6. The court was hearing a plea by the West Bengal government against a high court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff.
The appointments were made by the School Service Commission (SSC) in state-run and state-aided schools. The bench said, “We will stay the direction which says the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) will undertake further investigation against officials in the state government.”
The Calcutta High Court had said that the CBI will conduct further investigation in respect of the persons involved in approving the creation of additional posts to accommodate illegal appointments by the state government.
If necessary, the CBI will take such persons into custody and interrogate them. Challenging the order, the state government in its appeal filed in the apex court said that the High Court quashed the appointments “arbitrarily”.
Tge plea said,”The high court failed to appreciate the ramification of cancelling the entire selection process, leading to straightaway termination of teaching and non-teaching staff from service with immediate effect, without giving sufficient time to the petitioner state to deal with such an exigency, rendering the education system at a standstill.”
