Supreme Court Issues Notice On Former West Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee's Bail Plea In CBI Case Over 'Cash-for-Job Scam'

The Supreme Court today issued notice on a plea filed by former West Bengal Education Minister and now MLA Partha Chatterjee seeking bail in the CBI case arising out of the state's cash-for-jobs scam.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh passed the order.

Briefly put, the West Bengal cash-for-jobs scam involved allegations of illegal recruitment of Assistant Teachers under the West Bengal Board of Primary Education.

In 2022, a corruption case was registered, which led to the arrest of Dr. Subires Bhattacharyya (the Chairman of West Bengal Central School Service Commission), Ashok Kumar Saha (Secretary of WBCSSC), Dr. Kalyanmoy Ganguly (President of West Bengal Board of Secondary Education), Dr. Santi Prasad Sinha (Secretary of WBBSE) and Partha Chatterjee (the Minister in-charge of Higher Education and School Education Department, West Bengal).

The accused were charged under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and PMLA for using their public offices for personal gain by demanding bribes in exchange for jobs at the department.

Seeking bail, Partha Chatterjee (and others) initially moved the Calcutta High Court. However, in November, 2024, a division bench delivered a split verdict on the bail applications.

While one of the judges granted bail to all accused, the other denied bail to Partha Chatterjee and 4 other officials from the education department (Subires Bhattacharyya, Kalyanmoy Gangopadhyay, Ashok Kumar Saha and Shanti Prasad Sinha).

The matter then came before a single bench, which denied bail to Partha Chatterjee and the 4 other officials.

Challenging the above two orders (the split verdict order and the single bench order denying bail), Chatterjee approached the Supreme Court.

In December 2024, the Supreme Court had allowed him bail in the connected money laundering case with effect from Febraury 1, 2025.

Case Title: PARTHA CHATTERJEE Versus CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, SLP(Crl) No. 2471-2472/2025