The West Bengal government on Wednesday granted the Central Bureau of Investigation the sanction to prosecute state government officials allegedly involved in corruption cases linked to the alleged recruitment scams in schools, municipalities and the cooperative sector, The Telegraph reported.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari claimed that the previous Trinamool Congress government had “kept this permission on hold to save corrupt bureaucrats and officials”, The Hindu reported.

The CBI requires permission from a state government to prosecute its officials or file chargesheets against them.

Adhikari said that the new Bharatiya Janata Party government was following a “zero tolerance” policy on matters of corruption, The Hindu reported.

The BJP government took office on Saturday after defeating the TMC in the Assembly elections.

The CBI was permitted to take action in matters that are under court-monitored investigations, The Times of India reported.

Adhikari said that action against “institutional corruption” had been part of the BJP’s election manifesto and that more such steps would be taken in the coming days.

His comments came two days after TMC leader Sujit Bose, a former fire and emergency services minister, was arrested on Monday for his alleged involvement in allegedly illegal appointments in the South Dum Dum municipality.

On Wednesday, a court remanded Bose to the custody of the Enforcement Directorate.

The alleged scams

The school recruitment scam relates to the alleged illegal appointments of unqualified candidates as primary school teachers, assistant teachers and to other posts in the state education department.

Petitions alleging irregularities in the appointments were first filed in the Calcutta High Court in 2021. Petitioners alleged that appointments were made in 2019 by a panel that had expired in 2016. During subsequent hearings, allegations also surfaced that candidates who had failed the 2012 Teachers’ Eligibility Test were appointed in primary schools, The Telegraph reported.

While investigating the school recruitment cases, probe agencies also uncovered alleged irregularities in civic recruitment.

In a chargesheet filed in January, the CBI alleged that more than 600 allegedly illegal appointments were made in eight municipalities in West Bengal.

A senior official from the Directorate of Local Bodies was involved in the alleged irregularities in municipal recruitment, according to the CBI chargesheet.

Investigators alleged that a company linked to the official had handled the processing of the Optical Mark Recognition sheets for the recruitment test and took between Rs 4 lakh and Rs 7 lakh from candidates for jobs such as Group D staff, drivers, cleaners and typists.

The cooperative sector investigation relates to the Alipurduar Mohila Samabay Rindan Samity Limited case, a fraud involving a women-run cooperative credit society in north Bengal.

In August 2023, the Calcutta High Court directed the Crime Investigation Department to hand over details of the case to the CBI and the ED.

Edited by Nachiket Deuskar

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