The Calcutta High Court recently dismissed a review petition filed by the Trinamool Congress government against its order transferring the probe in the West Bengal Municipality Recruitment Scam to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha observed that it does not appear that the order sought to be reviewed has caused or will cause any harm to the Department of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs.
“On the contrary, the Court is of the opinion that, the State including its departments, ought to cooperate with the investigating agencies and ensure that the investigation that is continuing reaches a logical conclusion at the earliest, so that the offenders can be booked and appropriately dealt with in accordance with law,” the judge said.
The review petition was filed by the government of West Bengal through the Secretary, Department of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs, seeking a review of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s order dated April 21, 2022.
Earlier, Justice Gangopadhyay had directed the transfer of investigation of the probe to the CBI based on an application filed by the Enforcement Directorate. The ED claimed that while investigating the scam related to teachers’ appointments, it came across the ‘Municipality Recruitment Scam’ in the state, which had become intermingled due to common agents and common beneficiaries. Also, the victim in both cases is the same, i.e., “public/common people at large.”
On April 28, the Supreme Court refused to stay a single-bench order of the Calcutta High Court instructing the Central Bureau of Investigation to examine the scam of municipal recruitment in the state of West Bengal.
The apex court stated that status quo will be maintained in the ongoing CBI and ED investigations for a period of one week from the date of passing the order.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court on the same day had directed the Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court to reassign the matter to another judge of the HC.
Later on, the matter was reassigned to Justice Amrita Sinha.
The bench of Justice Sinha said that the court ought to ensure that the investigation is conducted diligently, with utmost importance and in a timebound manner. Handing over or permitting a separate agency to investigate subsequent offences detected in the course of investigation will inevitably result in a delay of the process and in turn will aid the persons involved in the crime to remove/ destroy/ tamper evidence, influence witnesses, and so on and so forth.
Further, the court said, “The scam in the municipalities is not an independent offence but is a part of the larger offence involving more or less the same persons, similar nature of crime, similar proceeds of crime, similar victims that is the common people who are the unemployed youth of the society.”
Accordingly, the court dismissed the review petition.
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