The Supreme Court on Monday granted bail to former Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee in a case involving alleged irregularities in the recruitment of teachers for state-aided secondary schools, being probed by the CBI.
A bench comprising Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh also granted bail to two co-accused — Subires Bhattacharya and Shanti Prasad Sinha.
However, Chatterjee will remain in jail as his bail plea in a separate case involving recruitment for primary schools is pending before Calcutta High Court.
The bench questioned additional solicitor-general S.V. Raju, appearing for the CBI, on the duration of incarceration. “How long should he be inside?” the judges asked.
Senior advocate Siddharth Mridul, former Chief Justice of Manipur High Court, appearing for Chatterjee, told the court that the former minister has been in custody for three years without the trial beginning.
Noting that the investigation was complete and the chargesheet had been filed, the bench observed that the accused were no longer required for further probe.
The Supreme Court directed the trial court to frame charges within four weeks and begin examining witnesses within two months.
The official order was not uploaded on the Supreme Court website until late on Monday.
The matter had previously come up for hearing on July 17 before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, but it was adjourned after Justice Bagchi recused himself from the case. It was then reassigned to the current bench. Chatterjee, who is also facing a parallel ED probe in the same case, was granted bail by the Supreme Court in December last year. But he remained in custody due to the ongoing CBI case.