Kolkata, Apr 4 (PTI) The Calcutta High Court on Monday directed four members of a five-man committee set up by the West Bengal School Education department for monitoring recruitment in government-aided schools to appear before the CBI in connection with alleged irregularities in the process.
The court had earlier ordered the central agency to hold an enquiry into the matter.
Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay on Monday directed the deputy commissioner (central) of Kolkata Police to ensure the presence of S Acharya and P K Bandopadhyay and ordered the commissioner of Bidhannagar Police commissioner to ensure the appearance of A K Sarkar and T Panja before the CBI by the afternoon of the day.
The order was carried out.
The single bench had earlier directed that the four be questioned by the CBI on Saturday. However, they informed the central probe agency that they would not make themselves available before it as their appeal case would be heard by a division bench comprising justices Harish Tandon and Rabindranath Samanta on Monday.
However, the division bench on Monday released all matters it was hearing in their appeal challenging orders of the single bench in relation to allegations of irregularities in the appointment process.
Following this, they separately moved another bench presided over by Justice T S Sivagnanam with the prayer for a stay on Justice Gangopadhyay’s order, but it also released the matter.
Another division bench too did not hear their case when it came to them and released the matter.
The four then moved the bench of Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava at the fag end of the working hours seeking an urgent hearing.
The bench, before rising for the day, said that it will consider hearing the matter after all the papers relating to it come before it.
The single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had on March 30 questioned an order of the division bench headed by Justice Tandon in an appeal challenging his direction for submission of an affidavit of assets by S P Sinha, a former advisor of the West Bengal School Service Commission in a petition alleging irregularities in the appointments.
The division bench had, on a prayer by Sinha, directed that the affidavit of assets will remain in a sealed cover and will not be divulged or circulated to the litigating parties and it will be appropriately dealt with at the time of final decision to be taken on the issues involved therein.
Sinha also headed the five-man committee that was formed by the School Education department.
A division bench presided over by Justice Soumen Sen had on April 1 passed a stay on the order of Justice Gangopadhyay that had directed Sinha to appear before the CBI in connection with the allegations.
Justice Gangopadhyay had earlier passed four orders in different petitions directing CBI enquiry into the allegations of appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff in state government and aided schools in an inappropriate manner by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education as per alleged recommendations from the SSC.
Appeals against such orders were moved before the division bench of the high court. PTI AMR NN NN
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Source: The Print
