The Calcutta High Court declined bail to Partha Chatterjee and four others in the SSC scam case. Last month, a two-judge division bench of the High Court delivered a split verdict on their bail pleas. After the split decision, the case was referred to a larger bench for consideration. With this ruling, all the accused will remain in custody as the investigation progresses.
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court denied bail requests from former education minister Partha Chatterjee and four others involved in the School Service Commission (SSC) recruitment scam, which is under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The other individuals seeking bail include former senior education department officials Subiresh Bhattacharjee, Ashok Kumar Saha, Kalyanmoy Ganguly, and Santi Prasad Sinha.
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Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, presiding over the case, noted that granting bail would be unjust to deserving candidates and could negatively affect the education system as a whole. The court also expressed concern over the apparent silence of the chief secretary and state administration regarding the issue.
In November, a two-judge division bench of the high court issued a split verdict on Chatterjee’s and the other accused’s bail petitions.
Justice Arijit Banerjee favored granting bail to all petitioners, while Justice Apurba Sinha Ray opposed it for Chatterjee and the others.
Among the accused, Bhattacharjee was the former state SSC chairman and later the vice-chancellor of North Bengal University. Saha served as the former assistant secretary to the commission during the scandal, Ganguly was the president of the state secondary education board at that time, and Sinha acted as the former advisor to the state SSC.
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Recently, the Supreme Court granted Partha Chatterjee conditional bail related to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation into the alleged teacher recruitment scam in West Bengal.
Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan stipulated that he must be released by February 1, 2025, unless the trial court concludes certain proceedings sooner. They directed the trial court to expedite its proceedings and specified that Chatterjee should not be appointed to any public office upon release, although he may continue to serve as an MLA.
Chatterjee was arrested by the ED in July 2022 for his involvement in irregularities related to the West Bengal School Service Commission while serving as the minister of state in the education department.
Partha Chatterjee arrested in July 2022 by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with the West Bengal School Service Commission (SSC) teacher recruitment scam and had previously been held at the Presidency Correctional Home. Following his arrest, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) suspended him from the party and stripped him of all party positions.
The Calcutta High Court also directed the CBI to investigate the recruitment scam involving the illegal appointments of Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ staff, as well as teaching staff. The ED is investigating these matters under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA).
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