West Bengal: SC declines intervention in TMC leader's TET 2014 case

On Thursday, October 20, the Supreme Court declined to intervene in the arrest of Trinamool Congress MLA and former President of the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE Manik Bhattacharya by the Enforcement Directorate. This is in connection with the money laundering issue regarding the teachers' appointment scam as reported by IANS.

Justices Aniruddha Bose and Vikram Nath refused to interfere with the arrest of Manik Bhattacharya. During the hearing, the TMC MLA's counsel argued that the court had granted him protection from arrest in the CBI matter and it should be extended in the case of ED. It was further argued by the counsel that Bhattacharya appeared before the ED on every occasion, but they claimed that he was not cooperating. However, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who represented the ED, countered that this is an independent investigation by an independent agency, stated the IANS report.

To recall, Manik Bhattacharya was arrested on October 10 by the ED for money laundering in the teachers' appointment scam and the Supreme Court dismissed Bhattacharya's plea challenging his arrest in the case, as reported by IANS. Since October 17, candidates who qualified for the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) in 2014 have been protesting at the West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE), Kolkata. 

Over 3,000 people are on indefinite hunger strike, demanding immediate recruitment at state-run schools and on grounds of alleged recruitment irregularities, that jobs were given to unqualified candidates in exchange for money. The candidates, over the past eight years, have staged various protests.