Fresh appeal by Abhishek Banerjee at Calcutta High Court in cash-for-school-job case

Kolkata : Trinamool Congress national general secretary and the party Lok Sabha member on Thursday made a fresh appeal at the Calcutta High Court’s single- judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh in connection to his name being included in the ongoing probe by central agencies in the multi-crore cash-for-school-job case in West Bengal.

In the fresh petition, Banerjee’s counsel has argued that since already a case relating to his petition for expunging his name from the ambit of investigation is pending at the bench of Justice Ghosh only, how could a parallel probe be conducted in the matter.

It has also been argued in the petition that since his earlier plea asking for dismissal of the enforcement case information report (ECIR) by Enforcement Directorate (ED) is pending final order from the bench of Justice Ghosh, how could the question of fresh summon in the matter arise. His counsel also appealed for a fast- track hearing in the matter.

Justice Ghosh said that he will first examine the connections between the two cases and then only decide whether the matter relating to the fresh petition will be heard or not. The matter will come up again on Friday.

The fresh application from Banerjee comes amid the order from the Calcutta High Court’s single-judge bench of Justice Amrita Sinha on August 29, seeking a report from ED on the progress of investigation against Banerjee in the cash for school job case in West Bengal.

Asking ED to file the progress report by September 14, Justice Sinha also expressed ire and raised questions on why the central agency did not summon Banerjee again in the matter after sending him a notice just once.

She was not satisfied with the argument of the ED counsel that since Banerjee had already made a petition for expunging his name from the ambit of investigation in the school job case, the central agency is waiting for an order in the matter.

She also reacted to the submission of the ED counsel that no coercive action can be adopted unless a clear order in the petition on this count comes forth. “Does that mean that you will not progress with the investigation process?” Justice Sinha questioned.