Kolkata: West Bengal Governor has given sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for prosecution of the state’s former Education minister Partha Chatterjee in a money laundering case relating to the recruitment of primary teachers in state-run schools.
Raj Bhavan sources confirmed to the media that the Governor CV Ananda Bose has also granted sanction to the ED to prosecute Manik Bhattacharya, the former president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE).
The Governor had earlier granted prosecution sanction to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for Partha Chatterjee in the recruitment irregularity case. Chatterjee was arrested by the ED in 2022 for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore primary teacher recruitment scam.
Last year in December, the third bench of the Calcutta High Court denied bail to former education minister Partha Chatterjee and four others in the CBI case relating to the SSC recruitment scam.
Since Chatterjee’s bail plea was moved on the touchstone of Article 21, the court had observed that the guarantee under Article 21 embraces both the life and liberty of the accused as well as interest of the victim, his near and dear ones, as well as of the community at large and therefore cannot be alienated from each other with levity.
“If any undeserving candidate is allowed to top exams by corrupt means, not only will the society be deprived of deserving candidates, but it will be unfair for those students who have honestly worked hard and are ultimately disentitled to a good rank by fraudulent practices prevalent in those examinations,” the court had observed. “The allegations against the petitioners are very serious in nature, which are reflected from the excerpts of the documents on record. The offences alleged, if proved, may jeopardise the credibility of the education system of the state,” the court had said.