A Calcutta High Court bench had rebuked Bengal’s chief secretary on multiple occasions for an alleged delay in greenlighting the trial against state government officials arrested for alleged irregularities in school recruitments.

On Friday, the same bench was told that the chief secretary was not the appropriate authority to grant the sanction.

The counsel representing one of the accused told the division bench of Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Gaurang Kanth that the CBI, which is probing the case, should have instead approached the governor, who appointed his client.

“The investigating agency should have obtained permission from the governor. Both Subires Bhattacharyya and Kalyanmoy Ganguly were appointed by the governor,” said the lawyer appearing for Bhattacharyya, who was the chairman of the West Bengal School Service Commission from 2014 to 2018.

Ganguly, an accused in the case, was the president of the state secondary education board from 2021 to 2022.

The CBI had submitted before the division bench that it had applied for approval — for initiating the trial against Bhattacharyya and Ganguly — from the chief secretary two years ago, but the top bureaucrat of the state had yet to give his nod.

The bench had thrice issued orders to the incumbent chief secretary, B.P. Gopalika, asking him to state why he was not issuing approval for the trial.

The chief secretary had on April 24 filed an application in the high court praying for some more time to file an affidavit stating the reasons.

That 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 had given the government time till May 2 for obeying the court order. “Otherwise, the state will have to face the consequences,” the court had said.

On Friday, the submission from Bhattacharyya’s lawyer prompted Justice Bagchi to say: “Actually, the CBI does not have the idea from whom it should obtain the approval. This court unnecessarily criticised the state chief secretary.”

“If the agency seeks permission from the wrong authority, what would the court do,” he said.

The bench fixed the matter for hearing on May 7 and directed the additional solicitor general to be present in the court during the hearing.