CPI-M MP files affidavit in Cal HC for suo motu proceedings against Mamata Banerjee

PTI, Mar 16, 2023, 6:33 PM IST

Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya Thursday submitted an affidavit to Calcutta High Court praying for initiation of suo motu contempt proceedings against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her remarks on the dismissal of thousands of teaching and non-teaching staff in state-run and aided schools on petitions before it.

Bhattacharya, a Rajya Sabha MP, submitted the affidavit before the division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice R Bharadwaj, which said it would look into it.

On a suggestion by the court that Bhattacharya can himself file a contempt petition if he wishes to, he told the division bench that a criminal contempt petition requires the consent of the advocate general of the state.

He prayed that the chief justice may take suo motu cognisance of the comments of Banerjee and send it to a larger bench for deciding on it.

Bhattacharya had moved the HC on Wednesday with an oral prayer seeking suo motu contempt against the chief minister for her comments on the dismissal of a few thousand teaching and non-teaching staff in West Bengal over petitions before the court.

Banerjee, during a programme at Alipore Court on Tuesday, spoke about the dismissal of teaching and non-teaching staff in state government-sponsored and aided schools on orders of the high court on petitions filed by candidates who claimed to have been deprived of jobs owing to irregularities in the recruitment process.

The HC has held that serious irregularities were committed in the recruitment of the teaching and non-teaching staff in the schools and in its various orders directed the dismissal of around 3000 of them.

Bhattacharya, who appeared for many of these candidates in different cases, had orally prayed before a division bench presided by Justice T S Sivagnanam on Wednesday that suo motu cognisance be taken of Banerjee’KK s comments and contempt proceedings be initiated against her.

The court of Justice Sivagnanam was moved since the one presided by the chief justice did not sit on Wednesday.

It asked Bhattacharya to make the submissions in the form of an affidavit before the court, following which the court will take a decision on it.

The chief minister had said that some political persons, who do not have the power to give something, are making efforts to take away jobs.

Asserting that those responsible for the irregularities should be punished, Banerjee, also TMC supremo, said that those who lost jobs can be given a fresh chance so that they can get back their employment.

The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education had given these jobs in various schools across the state on the recommendation of the state School Service Commission.