A division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal by the West Bengal government challenging a single bench direction to the CBI to investigate alleged irregularities in the recruitment of staff in various municipal bodies in the state.
The court observed that an “uninterrupted and conclusive investigation into the connected schemes of corruption” is the only means by which the perpetrators can be brought to justice.
Upholding the single bench order, a division bench presided by Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty said that the discovery of alleged corruption in recruitment by municipalities is unmistakably traced to the ongoing investigations into the teachers’ recruitment scam.
On April 21, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had directed the CBI to investigate an alleged scam in municipal recruitment in West Bengal, taking note of the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) findings during its probe into the school jobs for bribes scam.
He had directed the CBI probe into the alleged municipality recruitment scam, observing that these have got common agents and common beneficiaries and the victim in both cases – school jobs and municipality recruitment – is the common people at large.
Challenging this order, the state had moved the Supreme Court, which did not interfere with the direction for CBI investigation, while permitting the state to move a review petition before the high court against the order.
On May 12, Justice Amrita Sinha had dismissed a review petition by the West Bengal government against Justice Gangopadhyay’s order.
In its judgement on the appeal, the division bench on Thursday noted that the contents of ED’s report reveal that the alleged perpetrators of corruption in the recruitment of primary school teachers have concocted a larger nefarious scheme of manipulating the recruitment process across various municipalities in West Bengal.
The bench, also comprising Justice Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, said that there is ample indication to suggest that these two instances of crime are bound by a common thread and together, they form a larger body of crime associated with recruitment in various government bodies and/or institutions.
“In the present case, the subject matter is a scam of extraordinary dimension and the money trail and exchange of monetary considerations for giving appointments have extended to the selection process of education as well as municipality,” the bench observed.
The court said that in this case, the menace of corruption has accorded the underserved an unfair advantage over the deserved and deepened the societal chasm between haves and have-nots.
“This, in turn, has precipitated widespread dejection and disillusionment among general masses. The collective suffering of those who have been wronged by the malevolent activities of morally debased individuals, necessitates urgency in action,” the bench said.
The state government, in its appeal, had claimed that the single bench did not have the jurisdiction to direct the CBI to investigate the alleged municipality recruitment scam while considering an application filed by the ED during the hearing of a petition alleging illegalities in the selection process conducted for appointment of teachers in primary schools.
It was also claimed that the Department of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs was not even arrayed as a party respondent in that matter.
The division bench said that both the Department of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs and the School Education Department are under the state government.
The court said that the discovery of alleged corruption in recruitment by municipalities is unmistakably traced to the ongoing investigations into the teachers’ recruitment scam. “Therefore, given the similar nature of offence and involvement of common perpetrators, the learned Single Judge’s direction of CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities pertaining to appointments by municipalities, would ensure a logical conclusion to the ongoing investigations and serve the interest of justice,” the division bench observed.
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