The CBI could not submit in Calcutta High Court the purported evidence it had collected in connection with the probe into alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers for Classes IX to XII in government-aided schools and other staff.
The agency blamed it on a delay in receiving the evidence from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Hyderabad.
The division bench headed by Justice Debangshu Basak had asked the CBI to submit on Wednesday a report on the hard disks that the agency had seized as part of the probe into the alleged irregularities.
The advocate for the central agency, Billwadal Bhattacharya, informed the
bench that the hard disks are at the CFSL and the agency would get it only on January 29.
At this, advocate Kalyan Banerjee, who was representing the state, said the central agency has not been able to submit any evidence in connection with the case and that all the allegations levelled against the state are false.
Advocate Sutanu Patra, who appeared for the school service commission (SSC), said his client had submitted all documents to the CBI and did not have anything else to submit.
Reacting to this, Justice Basak observed that there were several allegations to which the SSC had allegedly not been able to give a “satisfactory response”.
The court said as the evidence (related to the hard disks) would not be available before January 29, the case would be heard again on February 5.
The CBI started investigating the alleged irregularities following an order from Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay of the high court. The judge had directed the SSC to cancel the appointments of the teachers hired illegally and to give the jobs to deserving candidates.
The SSC and the state moved an appeal before a division bench of the high court, which upheld the order. The Supreme Court, in response to an appeal against the order, asked the Chief Justice of the high court to set up a special bench to hear the cases.
The case came up for hearing before the special bench headed by Justice Basak.