NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Calcutta HC’s order directing CBI to probe the source from which an application was filed by the West Bengal Central School Service Commission (SSC) in a case related to the teachers’ recruitment scam.
A bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice Hima Kohli also stayed HCs order directing personal presence of West Bengal Principal Secretary Manish Jain into the multi crore scam in government schools.
While issuing notice, bench in their order said, “Pending further orders, the orders of the Single Judge dated 23 November 2022 (Annexures P-6 and P-7) and the order of the Division Bench dated 24 November 2022 shall remain stayed.
No further consequential steps shall be taken in pursuance of the impugned orders of the Single Judge which have been affirmed by the Division Bench. The direction to the CBI to investigate at whose behest the interim application was filed before the Single Judge shall accordingly remain stayed.”
Court’s order came against the backdrop of Senior Advocate AM Singhvi for the West Bengal government mentioning the plea before the bench. Opining that the application that was filed by the Commission was “benami”, single judge of the HC Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay had directed CBI on November 23 to probe the source from which the application had originated.
The judge had not only proceeded to inquire as to whether the counsel had drafted the application or not but had also refused to allow him to withdraw the same. Refusal was on the ground that the court wanted to enquire into “who was pulling the strings from behind such application.”
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