Enforcement Directorate officer Mithilesh Mishra, who was in charge of the investigation into the alleged irregularities in recruitments in government-aided schools in Bengal and was removed from the probe by Justice Amrita Sinha of the high court, moved an appeal against the order in the court.
Justice Sinha had said Mishra, an assistant director in the central agency, was “incompetent” while ordering his removal from the investigation team.
On September 29, Justice Sinha had instructed the agency’s chief to replace him with a “competent officer” after the court apparently found lapses in the investigation related to a private company named Leaps and Bounds Private Limited, whose name emerged during the probe.
Trinamul leader Abhishek Banerjee is said to be the CEO of the company.
Sources in the court said the appeal filed by Mishra was yet to be assigned to any division bench till Thursday afternoon.
“As the appeal is against the order of a single-judge bench, it has to be heard by a division bench,” said a senior advocate not attached to the case.
“There could be questions on how a trial court could intervene in the selection of an investigating officer. Such intervention should happen only in the court
of the Chief Justice of a high court or in the Supreme Court.”
The Telegraph tried to contact Mishra to seek his reaction on the matter and the
grounds on which his appeal had been filed.
He did not respond to a text message or calls from this newspaper.