Keywords: Calcutta high Court, West Bengal Municipal recruitment scam, CBI, Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty
A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday dismissed the West Bengal government’s appeal against a single bench order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into alleged irregularities in the recruitment of staff in a number of municipal bodies in the state. This was a significant development. The division bench, headed over by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty, maintained the prior decision and stressed the importance of conducting a thorough probe into the related corruption schemes.[1]
The case began when Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay ordered the CBI to look into an alleged fraud involving municipal hiring in West Bengal on April 21. He did this after taking notice of the conclusions reached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during its investigation into the school employment for bribery scandal. In both school employment and municipal hiring, Justice Gangopadhyay noted that there were common actors and beneficiaries, with the general public serving as both cases’ shared victims.[2]
The state government appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which did not affect the CBI’s probe order but did provide the state the opportunity to submit a review petition to the high court. Justice Amrita Sinha denied the state’s request for a review of Justice Gangopadhyay’s ruling on May 12.
The Bench has noted that the ED’s report showed those accused of engaging in corruption in hiring primary school teachers had actually orchestrated a more grave plan to rig the hiring process in several West Bengal municipalities. The court noted that these cases of corruption were part of a bigger body of criminal activity connected to hiring at numerous institutions and government agencies.
Written by- Satyanshu Sharma, College name- Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Patiala, Semester- 2nd, An intern under Legal Vidhiya
[1] LIVE LAW, https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/calcutta-high-court/calcutta-high-court-municipality-recruitment-scam-cbi-probe-ministers-involvement-corruption-230757 (last accessed on 16th June, 2023).
[2] LATEST LAWS, https://www.latestlaws.com/latest-news/calcutta-hc-upholds-cbi-probe-into-municipal-recruitment-scam-in-west-bengal-200770/ (last accessed on 16th June, 2023).
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