The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a petition by Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee against a Calcutta high court order which allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) to question him in connection with the multi-crore School Service Commission recruitment scam.
A vacation bench of justices Aniruddha Bose and Sanjay Karol agreed to list the plea on Friday after Banerjee’s counsel and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi sought an urgent hearing.
“I am being called on a daily basis to appear for questioning. He (Banerjee) is in Darjeeling and is campaigning outside the state and they are giving him a notice of nine hours,” Singhvi said.
CBI is probing alleged irregularities in the recruitment of Group C and Group D staff, as well as teachers, in government-sponsored and aided schools on the recommendations of the West Bengal School Service Commission in 2018. ED is conducting a parallel probe into the matter.
Three TMC legislators, including former education minister Partha Chatterjee, under whose tenure the alleged irregularities took place, have been arrested so far in the case.
On Friday, CBI had summoned Banerjee for questioning in the case on Saturday. This came after the high court on Thursday allowed CBI and ED to quiz the TMC leader, whose name cropped up after Kuntal Ghosh, the prime accused in the case and one of the arrested persons, alleged that central agencies were forcing him to name the former.
Banerjee appeared for the probe on Saturday and was questioned for over six hours. ED also carried out searches at multiple locations in the state in connection with the case.
In the top court on Monday, Singhvi said that CBI’s notice was issued soon after his client’s plea was dismissed with a cost of ₹25 lakh by a single bench of the high court. Singhvi said the imposition of the cost has also been challenged separately.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju, who appeared for CBI, sought to make submissions when the matter is heard next.
On Friday, Banerjee had said: “I dare CBI to arrest me if they have any proof of corruption against me. They have been probing many cases in Bengal for the last several years. They should arrest me if they have any proof against me.”
