Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee Friday welcomed a Supreme Court direction asking the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court to reassign the West Bengal school jobs "scam" case.

Stating that the matter is sub-judice, Banerjee said that he will not comment further on the order reassigning it from Justice Abhijit Gangopadhyay who was till now hearing the matter.

The Supreme Court Friday asked the Acting Chief Justice to reassign the West Bengal school jobs "scam" case to another judge after examining a report on Justice Gangopadhyay's interview to a news channel on the matter.

"I welcome the direction given by the Hon'ble Supreme Court," Banerjee told reporters at Dhupguri in north Bengal's Jalpaiguri district during a mass outreach programme ahead of the panchayat elections in the state, which are likely to be declared soon.

Hearing a plea by Banerjee, a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha took note of the report of the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court and said the case has to be reassigned to a bench headed by another judge.

The Supreme Court had earlier said judges have no business granting interviews on pending matters.

The top court had sought a report from the Registrar General of the Calcutta High Court on whether Justice Gangopadhyay gave an interview to a news channel about the school jobs "scam" case in West Bengal.

On April 17, the top court had stayed the Calcutta High Court's April 13 order directing the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to interrogate Banerjee and Kuntal Ghosh, an accused in the case, and file a report in the High Court based on that.

Justice Gangopadhyay has ordered CBI investigation in several cases of alleged irregularities in recruitment of teaching and non-teaching jobs in West Bengal government-sponsored and aided schools.

Banerjee, however, asserted that he wanted the investigating agencies to pursue their task freely, adding that the party will not stand by anyone found involved in any financial impropriety.

To a question about a Calcutta High Court order directing transfer of cases from the West Bengal police to the NIA into clashes between some groups of people during Ramnavami celebrations, Banerjee said that the state police has already arrested more than 30 persons.

Banerjee claimed that a 12-hour north Bengal bandh called the BJP to protest the unnatural death of a teenage girl and death of a man in suspected firing at Kaliaganj in Uttar Dinajpur district may be "aimed at disrupting his outreach programme as it is getting a lot of response." Claiming that life is normal despite the bandh call, the TMC leader said this was despite BJP's attempts to cause hardship to the people.

"TMC doesn't support this bandh culture. Some BJP leaders don't have to toil hard every day like the common man.....How can they understand the suffering of the common man," Banerjee said..

Banerjee started the mass outreach campaign 'Trinamul-e Nabajowar' (new wave in Trinamool) on April 25 at Dinhata in Coochbehar district.

Banerjee has said that he will travel across the length and breadth of West Bengal over two months during the programme.

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