School jobs case: Calutta HC grants bail to former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee

KOLKATA: The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted bail to former West Bengal minister Partha Chatterjee in connection with the teacher recruitment irregularities case. The bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh directed Chatterjee to surrender his passport and not leave the jurisdiction of the trial court, as conditions of the bail.

Justice Ghosh also directed that the former minister, who is a Trinamool Congress MLA, not be appointed to any public office during pendency of the trial. Chatterjee was accused of being involved in a racket effecting illegal appointments of unmerited candidates to the posts of primary school teachers, assistant school teachers and other posts in the education department.

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After several unsuccessful candidates in the teachers' eligibility test conducted by the West Bengal Board of Primary Education moved the Calcutta High Court, the latter ordered a CBI probe into the allegations on June 8, 2022.

The CBI registered an FIR the next day and the ED lodged a case on June 24, 2022 against several office-bearers of the state education department.