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🇮🇳 India /Crime & Justice

New West Bengal Government Clears All CBI Prosecution Sanction Requests

From Hindustan Times · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • The new West Bengal government has cleared all pending requests for sanction to prosecute public servants, reversing a policy of the previous government.
  • This move allows the CBI to proceed with long-delayed trials in high-profile cases, including teacher and municipality recruitment scams.
  • The government also restored general consent for CBI investigations, which had been revoked in 2018, and has filed new bank fraud cases.

The new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in West Bengal has cleared all pending requests for sanction to prosecute public servants, a significant reversal of the previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) administration's policy. This decision is expected to expedite long-delayed trials in several high-profile corruption cases.

People familiar with the matter stated that the government, led by Suvendu Adhikari, restored general consent for prosecution on June 8, after the TMC government had refused most requests since 2018. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had received 42 prosecution sanction requests under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which are mandatory for filing charge sheets. These cases involve former senior government officials and could not proceed without the necessary sanctions.

Among the most prominent cases are those related to alleged irregularities in teacher and municipality recruitment. The teacher recruitment scam led to the arrest of former education minister Partha Chatterjee in 2022, and the cancellation of approximately 26,000 appointments. The municipality jobs scandal, involving a recruitment racket, prompted a Calcutta High Court probe in 2023, and former minister Sujit Bose was arrested earlier this month.

Furthermore, the CBI had been hampered by the withdrawal of "general consent" for investigations by the Mamata Banerjee government in 2018. This meant the agency required prior approval for most investigations within the state. Between November 2018 and April this year, the CBI sent requests to probe 58 bank fraud cases totaling ₹2,100 crore, but these were not acted upon. Since the change in government, the CBI has filed three new bank fraud cases involving ₹191 crore.

Some of these cases involve former senior government officials in the West Bengal government. Due to lack of sanction, the courts could not take cognizance. We have now received these sanctions, which will help ensure the trials start

— an officerA CBI officer explaining the impact of the new government's decision on pending trials.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hindustan Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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