School jobs scam: Cal HC directs issuance of notice to West Bengal chief secy

Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Friday ordered that a notice be issued to West Bengal chief secretary over grant of sanction for the prosecution of some accused persons in an alleged school jobs scam, in which several persons, including former minister Partha Chatterjee, are in custody.

Hearing bail prayers of former public servants, the court directed the chief secretary to submit a report before it on a timeline within which he proposes to take a decision "independently" on the matter.

Observing that a delay in taking a decision on grant of sanction for prosecution of the accused "is a matter of serious regret", a division bench presided by Justice Joymalya Bagchi directed that notice be issued to the state's chief secretary.

The court directed the chief secretary to file the report on April 3, when the bail applications over their arrest by the CBI in connection with the central agency's high court-ordered investigation into the school jobs scam will come up for hearing again.

The court was jointly hearing the bail prayers of the state's former education minister Partha Chatterjee, former secretary of West Bengal School Service Commission Ashok Saha, ex-president of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education Kalyanmoy Ganguly and former SSC chairman Subires Bhattacharyya.

During the bail plea hearing, the petitioners' counsels emphasised that their clients have been in custody for over a year, with investigations concluded.

It was pointed out that the prosecution is stalled due to the lack of sanction from the appropriate authorities.

In view of the submission, the court had earlier directed the CBI director to take up the matter of grant of sanction with the appropriate authorities.

Responding to earlier court directions, Additional Solicitor General Ashoke Chakraborti, representing the CBI director, informed the court that the governor of West Bengal has granted sanction to prosecute former minister Partha Chatterjee.

However, despite repeated requests, the state's chief secretary has yet to decide on granting sanction to prosecute other former public servants like Ashok Saha, Subiresh Bhattacharya, and Kalyanmoy Ganguly, he submitted.

The court noted that the West Bengal Assembly Speaker has granted sanction to prosecute Jiban Krishna Saha, an MLA of the ruling party.

The court also noted that a conspiracy was alleged to have been hatched between the minister in-charge and the heads of the School Service Commission and others to tamper with the selection process results and appoint undeserving persons to public posts.

"Allegation of corruption and that too in high places is a serious threat to rule of law and confidence in public administration," the bench, also comprising Justice Gaurang Kanth, observed.

The court said offences involving economic crimes and corruption fall in a different category, their gravity cannot be seen only from the perspective of the maximum sentence prescribed in law, but its far-reaching impact on public administration and confidence of the people in affairs of the state.

The court said while these factors aggravate the gravity of the offence, it is also important for this court to ensure that the petitioners who are behind bars for more than a year are not subjected to undue, prolonged undertrial detention on the score that sanction for prosecution has not yet been obtained.