Calcutta HC refuses interim stay on CBI probe in Bengal municipalities' recruitment case

Kolkata, May 22 The Calcutta High Court on Monday refused to put an interim stay on the previous order allowing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the multi-crore recruitment case in different municipalities of West Bengal.

The vacation bench of Justices Biswajit Basu and Apurba Sinha Roy also directed Enforcement Directorate (ED), whose sleuths originally unearthed the scam, to submit its case diary in the matter before the next date of hearing, which is scheduled on June 6.

Originally, the court's single-judge bench of Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay gave the go-ahead for a central agency probe into the case.

The state government then approached the Supreme Court with a plea for quashing the order by Justice Gangopadhyay.

However, the apex court had referred the matter back to the Calcutta High Court.

Thereafter, the state government approached the high court's single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha with a review petition of Justice Gangopadhyay's order.

However, Justice Sinha upheld the order of earlier this week.

The state government then approached the high court's division bench of Justices Arijit Banerjee and Apurba Sinha Ray with a petition challenging the order of Justice Sinha.

However, on May 19, the division bench too refused to hear the plea on the ground that it was not their subject.

The matter was referred back to the division bench of Chief Justice T.S. Sivagnanam and Justice Hirnamay Bhattacharya.