The Calcutta High Court on Friday granted bail to former West Bengal education minister and Trinamool Congress MLA Partha Chatterjee in the teacher recruitment scam case.
The order was passed by a single-judge bench of Justice Suvra Ghosh, who laid down specific conditions for the bail. Chatterjee has been directed to surrender his passport and must remain within the jurisdiction of the trial court. He has also been barred from holding any public office for the duration of the trial.
Partha Chatterjee stands accused of orchestrating large-scale irregularities in the recruitment of teachers and non-teaching staff in government schools across West Bengal during his tenure as education minister. The alleged scam involves the appointment of unqualified candidates to key posts through manipulated selection processes.
The controversy first came to light in 2022, when several unsuccessful candidates in the Teachers’ Eligibility Test (TET) and State Level Selection Test (SLST) approached the High Court, alleging corruption and nepotism in the recruitment process conducted by the School Service Commission (SSC) and the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE).
Following these petitions, the Calcutta High Court ordered a CBI probe on 8 June 2022. The CBI registered a formal case the next day, and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated a separate investigation on 24 June 2022, focusing on financial irregularities linked to the appointments.
Investigations revealed that several candidates were appointed despite failing the selection tests, allegedly after paying bribes ranging from ₹5 to ₹15 lakh. Many of these appointments were linked to the 2016 recruitment process overseen by the education department under Chatterjee's leadership.
In a ruling on 3 April 2025, the Supreme Court of India cancelled the appointments of 25,752 teachers and non-teaching staff recruited through the 2016 panel, declaring the entire selection process compromised.
Earlier this month, the CBI filed its final chargesheet at the Alipore Court in Kolkata. It named Partha Chatterjee, former minister Paresh Adhikari, his daughter, and 18 others as accused in the bribery-for-jobs case.
Meanwhile, public anger continues to grow. On 25 September, a fresh protest was staged in Salt Lake, Kolkata, by school job aspirants demanding transparent and merit-based recruitment. These candidates had recently appeared for the SLST 2025 conducted on 7 and 14 September.
