SC stays HC order to remove Manik Bhattacharya as prez of Primary Edu Board

KOLKATA: The Supreme Court on Tuesday put an interim stay on the order of Calcutta High Court on removal of Manik Bhattacharya as the president of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.

However, the apex court has not issued any order with regards to his reinstatement into the position of the primary education board's chairman.

The Calcutta High Court had ordered the removal of Bhattacharya from the post of president of the WBBPE.

Thus, he was removed and Gautam Pal was appointed as president of the board. Bhattacharya had approached SC challenging the high court's decision. The Division Bench of Justice Aniruddha Bose and Justice Vikram Nath criticised the order by the HC on the removal of Bhattacharya from the post. Bhattacharya had also approached the court seeking protection against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrest. The court ordered CBI to continue the investigation and submit a report in four weeks but not take any coercive action against Bhattacharya till then. However, the court reserved its judgement on his arrest by ED, which means he will remain in ED custody for the time being.