The decision on the bail plea of Partha Chatterjee, the former education minister and ex-Trinamul Congress secretary general, in the cash-for-school-job case registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) remained pending on Wednesday, as the two-judge division Bench of the Calcutta High Court reached a split verdict.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday adjourned hearing on a plea filed by the former minister seeking bail in connection with the money laundering case linked to the alleged cash-for-school job scam.
The matter could not be taken up for hearing due to the non-sitting of Justice Surya Kant-led Bench.
As per the computerised case status, no fresh date of listing is shown on the website of the apex court.
On 1 October, the top court had issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and asked the federal anti-money laundering agency to file its reply within two weeks.
One judge of the division Bench, Justice Arijit Bandopadhyay, pronounced in favour of bail for Chatterjee and eight others accused in the case. The second judge, Justice Apurba Sinha Roy, however, rejected the bail for Chatterjee and four others.
The matter has been sent back to the division Bench of Calcutta High Court Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam, who will refer the matter to a higher three-judge Bench.
However, the four persons whose bail petitions have been granted both by Justice Bandopadhyay and Justice Sinha Roy will now be released on bail.
As it is, Chatterjee did not have the chance to be released immediately from behind bars even if the division Bench had cleared his bail plea, since his separate bail petition in the same case filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is pending before the Supreme Court.
Partha Chatterjee approached the apex court seeking bail in the case registered by ED after a single-judge Bench of the Calcutta High Court earlier this year rejected his bail petition in the same case.
Two parallel cases are going on against the former state education minister, one registered by the CBI and the other by the ED.
Soon after Chatterjee’s arrest, Trinamul Congress announced his removal from all administrative and organisational chairs. Even the party abolished the post of secretary general, which was specially created to give Chatterjee a party rank somewhat equivalent to national general secretary.