The high court granted bail to Manik Bhattacharya, a former president of the state primary education board, on Thursday.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him in October 2022 for alleged irregularities in teacher recruitment in government-aided primary schools.

Justice Suvra Ghosh said Bhattacharya, a Trinamul Congress MLA, has been in custody for almost two years. His “unlimited detention shall deprive him of his fundamental right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution”.

In her written order, the judge said: “The petitioner is in custody for little less than two years. The charge is yet to be framed. Delay in trial cannot be wholly attributable to the petitioner. The case involves several thousands of pages of documents and a good number of witnesses to be examined. The chance of the trial being concluded in the near future is bleak. The case is based on documentary evidence collected by the ED and is in their custody.”

“Therefore there is no scope for the petitioner to tamper with the evidence. Further detention of the petitioner shall not serve any purpose and his unlimited detention shall deprive him of his fundamental right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution.”

Article 21 guarantees the fundamental right to life and personal liberty. It states that no person can be deprived of their life or personal liberty except in accordance with a procedure established by law.

The Supreme Court has said on several occasions that “bail is a right and jail an exception” and an accused cannot be indefinitely imprisoned for delay in the trial.

Justice Ghosh has even referred to what the Supreme Court said while granting bail to former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia in her written order.

“In the judgment in Manish Sisodia (supra), the Hon’ble Supreme Court has granted bail to the appellant therein on account of incarceration for seventeen months upon observing that the appellant has been deprived of his right to a speedy trial, trial not having been commenced. As observed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court time and again, prolonged incarceration before being pronounced guilty of an offence should not be permitted to become punishment without trial and in such a case Article 21 applies irrespective of the seriousness of the crime”, the written order says.

The CBI in February 2023 arrested Delhi’s deputy chief minister in connection with alleged corruption in the now-scrapped excise policy.

Metro reported on November 25, 2022, that the enforcement directorate submitted before the Special (CBI-I) Court that Manik Bhattacharya had helped 325 candidates qualify TET (Teachers Eligibility Test) 2014 illegally and received ₹3.25 crore through intermediaries.

TET is held to shortlist candidates who are going to be appointed as teachers upon clearing personality tests.

The two recruitment tests, TET-2014 and TET-2017, conducted during Bhattacharya’s tenure as board president are mired in allegations of irregularities.