Cal HC division bench stays its single bench order directing Partha Chatterjee to appear before CBI

Kolkata, April 12 : A division bench of Calcutta high court on Tuesday stayed its single bench order directing West Bengal’s former education minister Partha Chatterjee ( now Commerce and industry minister) to appear before the CBI officials probing the teachers recruitment scam by 5.30 pm of the day. The single bench of justice Abhijit Gangopadhayay around 3 50 pm directed Chatterjee, who is also ruling TMC secretary general, to appear before the CBI investigation officers at Nizam Palace by 5 30 pm with warning not to go to the SSKM hospital. The CBI was also asked if the situation demanded it can also take the minister in its custody. However, the counsels of Chatterjee immediately moved to the division bench of the court and got a stay order for the day. The division bench comprising Justices Subrata Talukder and Anand Kumar Mukherjee while allowing an interim stay, said it would hear the case at 1030 am on Wednesday. The high court had earlier ordered a CBI investigation into alleged “irregularities” in the Group D and assistant teacher recruitment process of the state school education department, following which the agency interrogated a deputy director of the school education directorate and a private secretary of Chatterjee. In its order, the single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay said Tuesday that the minister cannot go to SSKM or any other hospital before heading to the CBI office and it informed the central agency that it may arrest the TMC leader, if necessary. Chatterjee’s lawyer soon approached a division bench of the high court seeking a stay on the order which was granted by the double bench of Justices Subrata Talukder and Anand Kumar Mukherjee. PC KK