Nearly two weeks after the Supreme Court asked the Calcutta High Court to assign a different judge to hear certain cases relating to West Bengal school job scam, a new Bench gave the same directions after hearing the matter. Justice Amrita Sinha on Friday dismissed the review application filed by the West Bengal government against the order passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay transferring the investigation into the irregularities in recruitment by municipalities to Central investigation agencies.
Justice Sinha was hearing the matter titled State of West Bengal vs Soumen Nandy. Justice Gangopadhyay had on April 21 asked Central investigation agencies to conduct an inquiry into irregularities in municipal recruitments. The Central agencies looking into the school recruitment scam in West Bengal — while conducting searches at the premises of the accused — had stumbled upon evidence of irregularities in recruitment across various municipalities. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on April 25 registered a separate FIR based on the High Court’s order.
The Supreme Court had stayed the matter and asked Calcutta High Court to assign the matter to a different Bench after lawyers representing Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee brought to the notice of the Supreme Court that Justice Gangopadhyay had given an interview to a television news channel relating to the case.
