Kolkata: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed a Division Bench order of the Calcutta High Court which upheld a single judge's direction calling for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into who filed the "benami application" in the multi-crore West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) recruitment scam.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli also dispensed with the personal appearance of West Bengal Principal Secretary Manish Jain.
"Presently, when I am arguing here, the Principal Secretary is in the dock before the high court," senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the state government, told the bench.
"There shall be a stay on the high court orders," the CJI said and listed the plea of the state government after three weeks.
"Issue notice, returnable in three weeks. Pending further orders, order of single-judge dated November 23 shall remain stayed. No consequential steps will be taken in pursuance of single-judge order including the CBI probe into who filed affidavit and order of November 24 also stayed," the court directed.
During Friday's hearing, the court was informed by senior advocate Singhvi, representing the West Bengal government, that on November 23, a single judge of the High Court had prima facie held that the application filed by the Commission was a 'benami application' and sought to know who drafted the same.
He argued that the High Court had disallowed the prayer to withdraw the application and sought to know "who was pulling the strings".
On Wednesday, single-judge Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had ordered a fresh CBI inquiry into who filed the application on behalf of the Commission in an attempt to revive recruitment to the stalled seats.
Later that day, the State filed an appeal to get the matter heard by a Division Bench of the High Court.
On Thursday, however, a Division Bench of Justices Tapabrata Chakraborty and Partha Sarathi Chatterjee upheld the order of the single-judge with regard to the fresh CBI probe. Consequently, the West Bengal government moved the Supreme Court.