The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a Calcutta High Court order that had directed a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the recruitment/regularisation of voluntary teachers by the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

The apex court said that the directive could not be passed without giving adequate and proper reasons for entrusting the probe to the central agency.

A bench of Justice B.R. Gavai and Justice K. V. Viswanathan filed the appeal after hearing arguments of senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul for the Bengal government and senior lawyer Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, for some of the original petitioners on whose petition the high court had ordered a CBI probe.

Justice Gavai heading the bench observed that although the high court was empowered under Article 226 to order a CBI probe or transfer the investigation from the state police agencies to the central agency, these could only be done upon being satisfied that the investigations conducted by the state authorities into the alleged scandal was unfair and biased.

In the present case, the apex court felt that the single judge had not passed any reasoned judgment to justify the transfer of the investigations to the CBI on April 4 this year.

The single judge’s order directing the CBI probe was affirmed by a division bench of the high court, aggrieved by which Bengal filed the present appeal.

While allowing the appeal, the apex court remitted the matter back to the single judge to deal with the writ petitions filed “in accordance with the law”.