A vacation division bench of Calcutta High Court on Monday declined to issue an interim stay on an investigation by the CBI or the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into an alleged scam in the recruitment of thousands of employees to seven municipalities in Bengal.

The bench refused the state government relief after a similar appeal had been rejected by Justice Amrita Sinha of the court on Thursday and two division benches had said on Friday that they did not have enough time to hear an appeal against Justice Sinha’s decision.

The order the state wants a stay on was passed by Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay.

On Monday, the vacation division bench comprising Justice Biswajit Basu and Justice Apurba Sinha Roy sent the case for disposal by a regular division bench on June 6, a day after the reopening of the court following its 15-day summer vacation.

Justice Gangopadhyay’s order had given the CBI and the ED liberty to initiate a probe into the alleged scam in the recruitment of nearly 5,000 staff members to seven civic bodies in the state.

The CBI had informed Justice Gangopadhyay that during a raid on the residence of Ayan Sil, one of the main accused in a primary teacher recruitment “scam” case, the agency had seized some documents that proved that at least 5,000 employees had been recruited to seven civic bodies in the state against the payment of bribes.

The agency had prayed for permission to start a fresh case for the purportedly illegal appointments at the municipalities.

Justice Gangopadhyay accepted the prayer by the CBI and gave the agencies the liberty to file an FIR in this regard.

After that, the case was shifted to Justice Sinha’s court from that of Justice Gangopadhyay on the basis of a Supreme Court order.