Teachers' recruitment 'scam': West Bengal ex-minister Partha Chatterjee gets bail
What's the story
The Calcutta High Court has granted bail to former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee in the teachers' recruitment scam case. The decision was taken by a single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh on Friday. However, the court imposed certain conditions on Chatterjee, including surrendering his passport and not leaving the trial court's jurisdiction while on bail.
Scam details
What is the teachers' recruitment scam?
Chatterjee, a Trinamool Congress MLA and former education minister, was accused of being involved in the illegal recruitment of unmerited candidates to teaching and non-teaching posts in the West Bengal Education Department between 2014-2021. The scam came to light after several unsuccessful candidates filed petitions in the Calcutta High Court seeking justice. The court ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the allegations on June 8, 2022.
Probe progress
CBI, ED probes into the case
Following the court order, the CBI registered an FIR on June 9, 2022. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also launched a probe on June 24, 2022 against several officials of the state education department. The investigations revealed that some candidates had allegedly paid bribes between ₹5-15 lakh to secure their appointments despite failing selection tests.
Legal proceedings
Appointments of 25,752 teachers canceled
The appointments of all 25,752 teachers and non-teaching staff from the 2016 recruitment panel were canceled by the Supreme Court in April, upholding a decision of the Calcutta High Court that had canceled the appointments. On the state's appeal, the top court ruled on April 17 that non-tainted teachers can continue to work until December 31, but they will have to take a new selection test.