West Bengal Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee on Wednesday appeared before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the direction of the Calcutta High Court in the SSC recruitment scam.
Sources in CBI said that Chatterjee would be questioned about the alleged irregularities in the appointments given by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education on recommendations by the School Service Commission (SSC). Chatterjee was the education minister when the alleged illegal recruitments were made.
Earlier on Wednesday, a single bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay directed that if Chatterjee did not reach the CBI office by 7 pm, the officers could take him into custody.
On Tuesday night, a single bench of High Court Justice Abhijit asked Education Minister Paresh Adhikari to appear before the CBI in the case. Soon after, the CBI said that five members of the recommendation committee would go to the CBI office by 4 pm before Chatterjee arrives.
Following the verdict on Wednesday, Justice Gangopadhyay said he hoped that Chatterjee would step down soon. “I appeal to the governor and chief minister to remove Chatterjee from office. Corruption should not be tolerated in building a transparent society,” the judge said.
The High Court directed the CBI to probe into seven cases of corruption in the recruitment of teachers of Group-D, Group-C and Class IX-X of the School Service Commission. However, the cases were later adjourned in the division bench.
Later, the division bench formed a committee headed by former Justice Ranjit Kumar Bagh. The committee investigates the recruitment cases. The Bug Committee reports to the Division Bench on the recruitment of Group-C and Group-D staff in the school.
Arunav Bandyopadhyay, a lawyer for the Bugs Committee, told the court that 361 people had been falsely appointed to Group-C posts. 222 of them did not take the test. The rest did not pass. The bug committee also informed the division bench that 624 people have been illegally appointed to Group-D posts.