Municipality Recruitment Scam: Calcutta High Court (DB) Denies Interim Stay On CBI-ED Probe

A Division bench of the Calcutta High Court on Monday refused to issue any interim stay on the April 21 order of a Single Judge directing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to probe into the alleged ‘Municipality Recruitment Scam’ in the state.

The State Government had moved before the vacation bench of Justice Biswajit Basu and Justice Apurba Sinha Ray after the bench of Justice Amrita Sinha, earlier this month, dismissed the review petition filed by the State government against its order transferring the probe in West Bengal Municipality Recruitment Scam to CBI.

The vacation bench has now posted the matter on June 6 for a hearing before the regular division bench of the HC.

Brief background of the case

While probing into the West Bengal Teachers' Recruitment Scam, the ED arrested a businessman, associated with the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Ayan Sil. During its search, the ED discovered several incriminating documents which indicated that a scam had occurred in the recruitment in various municipalities, and hence, this alleged scam came to light. 

Thereafter, on April 21, the bench of Justice Gangopadhyay gave liberty to the CBI and the ED to initiate a probe into the alleged scam. The Supreme Court on April 28 directed the ED and CBI to maintain the status quo with respect to the investigation of the Municipality Recruitment Scam for a week.

The Supreme Court noted that the State of West Bengal had not been served the notice of proceedings and opined that in the interest of justice, the State of West Bengal be heard afresh by the High Court on the issue of whether the investigation should be initiated by the CBI.

In view of this, challenging the order of Justice Gangopadhyay, the State Government moved a review petition before the bench of Justice Sinha, which was dismissed earlier this month.