Cash-for-jobs case: SC orders Partha Chatterjee's release with condition

The Supreme Court on Monday said that former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee should be released on bail in the cash-for-jobs case being probed by CBI, but after the trial court records statements of material witnesses.

A bench of justices MM Sundresh and NK Singh said the statements must be recorded within two months. It noted that Chatterjee had been in jail for nearly three years and his continued incarceration would be tantamount to travesty of justice.

The bench also granted bail to Subiresh Bhattacharya and Shantiprasad Sinha. The duo held positions in West Bengal's education bodies during the period of the alleged scandal. The top court also ordered that the charges should be framed within four weeks against public servants against whom sanction for prosecution has been accorded under relevant sections of Prevention of Corruption Act.


As regards accused against whom sanction has not been accorded, charges will be framed for only IPC offences, the bench said.

The case pertains to recruitment irregularities which allegedly took place when Chatterjee was West Bengal's education minister. He was holding other ministerial portfolios when he was arrested in 2022, but was sacked from the state Cabinet and suspended from Trinamool shortly after his arrest. CBI has alleged that Chatterjee was the mastermind behind the scandal and that he manipulated the recruitment process.

His bail plea was rejected by the Calcutta High Court in December 2024, prompting the current appeal in SC.