School jobs 'scam': Ex-Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee granted bail after 3 years
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Partha Chatterjee is the prime accused in the cash-for-jobs 'scam' in Bengal’s state-run schools, which ran into several thousand crores and rocked state politics
The Calcutta High Court on Friday (September 26) granted bail to former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with the primary school teacher recruitment irregularities case.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA Partha Chatterjee is the prime accused in the cash-for-jobs 'scam' in Bengal’s state-run schools, which ran into several thousand crores and rocked state politics.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) lodged several cases against him and are investigating the matter. Subsequently, the CBI filed a chargesheet on December 27 last year.
Chatterjee has been in prison for more than three years. Earlier, he was granted bail in other cases slapped on him by the ED and CBI. Calcutta High Court's recent direction would make him walk out of the prison after he furnishes bail bonds.
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Court break delays Chatterjee’s release
Lawyers were unsure whether Chatterjee would be set free ahead of the Durga Puja festival. They said that in the wake of a Supreme Court order pertaining to a related case, Chatterjee’s formalities could only be completed once the courts reopened after puja holidays.
On August 18, the Supreme Court granted bail to Chatterjee in a related case investigated by the CBI. The Supreme Court directed that he would be released only after the trial court recorded statements of material witnesses.
A Bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh noted that Chatterjee spent nearly three years in jail and his continued incarceration would be a "travesty of justice".
The Bench directed that the charges be framed within four weeks under the Prevention of Corruption Act against public servants, with the statements being recorded within two months.
According to Calcutta High Court lawyers, the process of recording statements in that matter was not yet over, and it would be completed only after the courts reopen after the puja vacations. This procedure has prevented Chatterjee from furnishing his bail bond just yet.
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'Surrender your passport'
On Friday, the Bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh directed Chatterjee to surrender his passport and not leave the jurisdiction of the trial court, as conditions of bail. Chatterjee was also directed to appear before the trial court on every hearing.
Justice Ghosh also directed that Chatterjee not be appointed to any public office during the pendency of the trial.
In the current case, involving illegal school appointments at the primary level, the CBI also named Ayan Sil, a private developer and an accused in the state municipal body recruitment scam, and Santu Gangopadhyay, another private promoter and an alleged close confidant of the former minister, in its December 27 charge sheet.
The leader’s son-in-law and co-accused in the case, Kalyanmoy Bhattacharya, has turned state approver.
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Arrested in 2022
Chatterjee, then State Education Minister and the secretary general of the TMC, was arrested by the CBI on July 22, 2022, following night-long raids at his south Kolkata residence during which the agency claimed to have seized incriminating documents relating to 12 immovable properties in the name of Chatterjee's close associates and documents showing the appointment of Group D staff.
Subsequent searches conducted at Arpita Mukherjee's residence, a close aide of Chatterjee's, further led to the seizure of nearly Rs 50 crore in cash and gold jewellery worth over Rs 5 crore.
Chatterjee was accused of being involved in facilitating illegal appointments of unmerited candidates to the posts of primary school teachers, assistant school teachers and other posts in the education department.
After several unsuccessful candidates in the teachers' eligibility test conducted by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education moved the Calcutta High Court, the latter ordered a CBI probe into the allegations on June 8, 2022.
The CBI registered an FIR the next day, and the ED lodged a case on June 24, 2022, against several office-bearers of the state education department.
(With agency inputs)