Is there any level playing field for investigating agencies in West Bengal? Calcutta High Court asks State

Is there any 'level playing field' for prosecution agencies in West Bengal, the Calcutta High Court said on Tuesday while pulling up the State's Chief Secretary BP Gopalika for dragging his feet over granting sanction to prosecute the accused in the infamous 'School Jobs for Cash Scam' [Kuntal Ghosh vs Central Bureau of Investigation]..A division bench of Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Gaurang Kanth noted that despite a clear order on April 3 directing the Chief Secretary to submit a report spelling out the time frame within which he will be granting sanction, he did not clarify his stand and in fact sought more time for the same citing the upcoming Lok Sabha elections."How can General elections stand in the way of administration of criminal justice? Have you stopped registering FIRs or have you stopped investigating crimes?" Justice Bagchi questioned the government counsel.The Court today said that it was more troubled to note that the CBI officers, who have invested their time and energy to investigate these cases, were now awaiting only for the sanction."Today, we feel if this is the situation, how far is West Bengal a neutral field for trials.. this is something which even the prosecuting agencies need to consider. If this is a circumstance in which a prosecuting agency has to prosecute, will the agency be able to have a level playing field?" Justice Bagchi underscored.The infamous School Jobs for Cash Scam pertains to various illegal recruitments made in the primary and secondary schools across the State, during the recruitment process of 2016.Several persons including the former education minister Partha Chatterjee and Trinamool Congress (TMC) party MLAs - Manik Bhattacharya and Jiban Krishna Saha are behind bars for their alleged involvement in the scam along with suspended TMC leaders like Santanu Kundu and Kuntal Ghosh. .The Court today said the Chief Secretary cannot make the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) wait for his luxury.The bench it clear that the Chief Secretary needs to take an 'independent' decision and not get influenced by anyone, be it the State government or the accused in the scam."The Chief Secretary has to take this decision independently even if his decision makes him unpopular to the political executive. This is his duty. Everyone of us is required to take independent strong and perhaps palatable decisions. That is the rule of law," the Court said..The Court further expressed displeasure over the State standing for the accused persons in the scam."At least the State of West Bengal shall not stand up for this sort of indifference. These accused may be officers or former ministers of some party, it does not matter. We all need to uphold the rule of law and everyone has to be made accountable for their deeds. We are seeing this sanctioning situation has become extra-ordinary in this case," the bench observed.The bench said in its order that the Chief Secretary failed to apply his mind to the matter and submitted a 'laconic' report and failed to consider the magnitude of responsibility to submit the sanction within a time frame."We are left to wonder why the highest civil servant of the State has not discharged his bounden statutory duties in a prompt manner, resulting in a undesirable hiatus to the progress of the prosecution in cases involving deep-rooted corruption in the high offices of this State," the Court said.It eventually granted a fortnight's time to the Chief Secretary to take a final decision on the sanction to prosecute the accused persons in the scam.

Is there any level playing field for investigating agencies in West Bengal? Calcutta High Court asks State

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