The high court on Tuesday came down on Bengal’s chief secretary for failing to comply with its directive in connection with the trial of the officials arrested for alleged irregularities in school recruitment.

This was the third consecutive time, in as many hearings, that the court expressed its displeasure over the conduct of the top bureaucrat of the state.

A division bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Gaurang Kanth of Calcutta High Court had earlier asked chief secretary B.P. Gopalika to file an affidavit stating the reasons for not giving concurrence yet to the CBI to initiate the trial of the government officials arrested in the case.

The arrested state government officials include Subires Bhattacharyya, who was chairman of the West Bengal School Service Commission from 2014 to 2018; S.P. Sinha, who was chairman of the school service commission (SSC)’s advisory committee from 2016 to 2021; and Ashok Kumar Saha, who was chairman of the SSC from January to December 2020.

Filling an application before the high court on Tuesday, the chief secretary prayed for some more time to file the affidavit. This prompted Justice Bagchi to say: “The CBI had applied for permission two years ago. Why is the state hesitant? Then, I have to believe that all the accused are so influential that they can influence the government as well.”

Justice Bagchi gave the government time till May 2 for obeying the court order. “Otherwise, the state will have to face the consequences.”

On October 25, 2022, the CBI filed a chargesheet against 12 people in connection with the alleged illegal recruitment of teachers in government-aided schools. Since then the CBI is awaiting approval from the chief secretary to start the trial of the government officials in custody.