The Supreme Court on Tuesday mandated a special court in Kolkata to quickly resolve the bail plea of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kuntal Ghosh, who has been embroiled in a significant money laundering case associated with the alleged West Bengal school jobs-for-bribes scandal. Ghosh was detained by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on January 21 last year, amidst accusations of a substantial corruption scheme involving the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in state-run schools.
The case, which spans alleged illegal activities from 2014 to 2021, involves claims that leaders from the ruling TMC exploited their positions to collect over Rs 100 crore from job aspirants. This scandal has been under the joint investigation of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED.
The spotlight intensified on the case after Ghosh accused central probe agencies of coercing him to implicate TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee. In light of these developments, the Supreme Court bench, comprising Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, heard arguments from Ghosh’s lawyer, M S Khan. The court not only called for an expedited decision on the bail but also issued a notice to the probe agency concerning Ghosh’s plea, setting the next hearing for October 17.
Additionally, Ghosh has raised concerns with the Supreme Court about the change in judges assigned to his bail plea, arguing that the original judge had already substantially heard his case.
This directive comes after the Supreme Court previously halted a Calcutta High Court order that nullified the appointments of nearly 24,000 individuals in teaching and non-teaching roles, which were processed by the West Bengal School Service Commission in 2016. The controversy surrounding these appointments alleges that many candidates were unjustly given jobs following incorrect evaluations of their OMR sheets.
