A division bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Gaurang Kanth noted that despite a clear order on April 3 directing the Chief Secretary to submit a report spelling out the time frame within which he will be granting sanction, he did not clarify his stand and in fact sought more time for the same citing the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“How can General elections stand in the way of administration of criminal justice? Have you stopped registering FIRs or have you stopped investigating crimes?” Justice Bagchi questioned the government counsel.
The Court today said that it was more troubled to note that the CBI officers, who have invested their time and energy to investigate these cases, were now awaiting only for the sanction.
“Today, we feel if this is the situation, how far is West Bengal a neutral field for trials.. this is something which even the prosecuting agencies need to consider. If this is a circumstance in which a prosecuting agency has to prosecute, will the agency be able to have a level playing field?” Justice Bagchi underscored.
The infamous School Jobs for Cash Scam pertains to various illegal recruitments made in the primary and secondary schools across the State, during the recruitment process of 2016.
Several persons including the former education minister Partha Chatterjee and Trinamool Congress (TMC) party MLAs – Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha are behind bars for their alleged involvement in the scam along with suspended TMC leaders like Santanu Kundu and Kuntal Ghosh.
Source: Barandbench
