Teacher Recruitment Scam: Supreme Court Dismisses Abhishek Banerjee’s Plea, Permits CBI, ED To Probe TMC Leader

The Supreme Court today (July 10) dismissed Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee’s plea challenging the Calcutta High Court’s order allowing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe him in connection with the West Bengal teacher recruitment scam.

“We are not going to interfere with the impugned order as this would stultify the investigation. Petitioner can avail the available remedies under the law”, the bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said.

The SC was hearing an appeal by Banerjee against a Calcutta High Court order dismissing his plea to recall an order passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay which allowed the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to interrogate him in the recruitment scam.

The ED had summoned Banerjee, the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, for questioning in connection with an ongoing probe in to the scam.

Banerjee was questioned for over nine hours by the CBI on May 20 in connection with the case.

The Calcutta HC ordered probe into the school recruitment scam has so far netted senior minister and close Mamata aide Partha Chatterjee and his associate Aripta Mukherjee, Trinamool legislator Manik Bhattacharya and other Trinamool functionaries, as well as, people with close ties to top Trinamool leaders.

Kolkata businessman Sujoy Krishna Bhadra, a close associate of Abhishek Banerjee from the Trinamool Congress, was arrested by the ED in May following a 12-hour interrogation regarding the West Bengal school jobs scam.

The High Court has already ordered the dismissal of 36,000 primary school teachers who were “illegally appointed” in 2016. 

The High Court observed that thousands of untrained and unqualified candidates were recruited as primary school teachers on the basis of recommendations in 2016. He had earlier remarked that the entire panel of primary school teachers appointed in 2016 was “corrupt”.