The Calcutta High Court has declined to decide the Central Bureau of Investigation’s request to dissolve its special investigation team handling alleged recruitment irregularities in West Bengal, telling the agency that it may approach the Supreme Court instead.
Justice Amrita Sinha made the observation during a hearing on Tuesday, after the CBI sought permission to disband the SIT formed to investigate alleged corruption in the recruitment of teachers, non-teaching staff and municipal employees. The court did not accept the agency’s application for consideration and removed the matter from its current hearing list.
The court’s position was linked to an existing stay by the Supreme Court on the hearing of related cases. “There is a stay by the Supreme Court on the hearing of the cases related to this. In this situation, what will this court do? The CBI should approach the Supreme Court seeking permission to dissolve the SIT,” Justice Sinha said, according to the report.
The High Court had ordered the formation of the SIT in 2022 under the direction of its then judge, Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay. The team has since been investigating alleged irregularities in recruitment across schools and municipalities in the state.
The CBI had approached the High Court last month seeking to dissolve the team. The agency said that investigations in most of the cases assigned to the SIT had already been completed and that the remaining work could be handled by its anti-corruption branch. The agency also argued that the team had been functioning for five years and that the retirement or promotion of several officers had created administrative difficulties. According to the CBI, some matters were being held up because those officers had not been released from the SIT.
Additional Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi appeared for the CBI during Tuesday’s proceedings. The court, however, asked the agency about the stage reached in the investigations and what the inquiry had established so far. Justice Sinha also raised questions about the future course of the cases.
Lawyers representing a section of job applicants, including the original petitioners, opposed the CBI’s proposal. Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya and Firdous Shamim expressed concern that dissolving the SIT before the investigation into primary school recruitment was complete could affect the proceedings. They questioned the purpose of retaining the team if the investigation was not completed through it.
The court therefore did not proceed with the CBI’s application to dissolve the SIT. It directed that the agency could move the Supreme Court on the issue, while the High Court matter was sent outside the hearing list for now.
