The high court on Monday deferred the bail plea of former Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee, granting the CBI a week’s time in connection with the alleged corruption in hiring teachers for state-aided primary schools.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court granted Chatterjee bail in a separate case involving alleged irregularities in teacher recruitment for state-aided secondary schools. But he remains in jail as his bail plea in the primary teacher recruitment case is still pending before the high court.

Chatterjee was arrested by the CBI and ED in 2022 for his alleged involvement in recruitment scams at both the primary (Classes I to V) and secondary (Classes IX to X) school levels. He has been in custody since July 2022.

During Monday’s hearing, CBI counsel Rajdeep Majumder sought more time, stating: “The solicitor-general (Tushar Mehta) will appear in this case for the CBI. Since he is occupied with other matters today, the court should adjourn the hearing and set a new date.”

Justice Suvra Ghosh of the high court accepted the request and scheduled the hearing for August 25.

In September last year, Justice Ghosh granted bail to Manik Bhattacharya, former president of the state primary education board, in the same case.

In her order, she observed that Bhattacharya, a Trinamool Congress MLA, had been in custody for nearly two years, and his “unlimited detention shall deprive him of his fundamental right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution”.

Chatterjee is accused of facilitating the appointment of low-ranking candidates in the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) as assistant teachers in exchange for bribes.