The Calcutta High Court (HC) on Tuesday rejected bail plea of former education minister Partha Chatterjee and four others Kalyanmoy Ganguly, former secretary of the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE), Shanti Prasad Sinha, former chairman of the WBSSC’s advisory committee, Subiresh Bhattacharya, former chairman of the West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) and former WBSSC secretary Ashok Kumar Saha in the case in connection with the scam in recruitment of school teachers and other staff under West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC).

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is probing the scam.

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Earlier, a division Bench comprising Justice Arijit Banerjee and Justice Apurba Sinha Roy had differed in their separate judgments on the bail prayers of nine accused, including Mr Chatterjee.

On 20 November, Justice Banerjee had granted bail to nine accused in the case while Justice Sinha Roy could not agree with the judgment given by the former. He had granted bail to Kaushik Ghosh, Sheikh Ali Imam, Subrata Samanta Roy and Chandan alias Ranjan Mondal except the five – Mr Chatterjee, Mr Bhattacharya, Mr Sinha, Mr Ganguly and Mr Saha.

As a result, there had been some legal complications related to granting bail to the five accused.

The matter was thereafter assigned to the single Bench of Justice Tapobrata Chakraborty by the HC Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam for adjudication.

The CBI had opposed their bail prayers, claiming that though the investigation against the five in the alleged school jobs scam had been completed, the overall probe into the irregularities in recruitments is still ongoing.

The central investigating agency’s counsel claimed that their enlargement on bail at this stage may affect the ongoing inquiry, as the accused are influential.

While delivering judgment Justice Chakraborty said in the courtroom, “There would be an overall deterioration in the education system if unqualified candidates are made teachers. Candidates who have got jobs after qualifying the examination with honesty and transparency have been cheated. Why is the state government silent to give approval for a trial in the case? The state government has not yet cleared its stand on the trail of the accused.”

Mr Chatterjee, who held the education portfolio from 2011 to 2021, had moved a bail application before the HC along with other former public servants, who are in jail for about two years in connection with the school jobs irregularities case.