The Calcutta High Court order directing the CBI to probe into the role of West Bengal government officials in an alleged teacher recruitment scam was stayed by the Supreme Court on Monday, in a huge relief to the Mamata Banerjee-led government. 

The top court was hearing a petition by the state government against a high court order invalidating the appointment of 25,753 teachers and non-teaching staff made by the School Service Commission (SSC) in state-run and state-aided schools.

“We will stay the direction which says the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) will undertake further investigation against officials in the state government,” said a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra.

Challenging the order, the state government, in its appeal filed before the top court, said the high court cancelled the appointments “arbitrarily”.

“The high court failed to appreciate the ramification of cancelling the entire selection process, leading to straightaway termination of teaching and non-teaching staff from service with immediate effect, without giving sufficient time to the petitioner state to deal with such an exigency, rendering the education system at a standstill,” read the petition by the Bengal government.

The Calcutta High Court had said the CBI would undertake further investigations with regard to the persons involved in the state government approving the creation of supernumerary post to accommodate illegal appointments.

The high court further added that, if needed, the CBI will undertake custodial interrogation of such persons involved.

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has been summoned by the Delhi Police on Wednesday in connection with a doctored video of Home Minister Amit Shah. Four other people, all from Telangana, have also been served notices to join the enquiry into the case.

The video was allegedly shared by the official X handle of Telangana Congress, after which many party leaders reposted the video, claiming it showed the BJP’s “agenda to abolish SC/ST reservation quotas”.

The Delhi Police registered a case on the edited video being widely circulating on social media platforms after complaints by the BJP and the Home Ministry. In the altered video, the Home Minister was seen advocating for the abolition of reservation quotas for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

After the complaints, the police filed a case under Sections 153, 153A, 465, 469, 171G of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 66C of the Information Technology (IT) Act and a probe was initiated. The police also sent notices to the X and Facebook seeking information on the accounts that uploaded and shared the video.

 The BJP has claimed that the video was manipulated to distort Mr Shah’s original statements made during a political rally.

“The Congress is spreading an edited video which is completely fake and has the potential to cause large-scale violence. Home Minister Amit Shah spoke about removing the unconstitutional reservation given to Muslims, on the basis of religion, after reducing the share of SCs/STs and OBCs,” said BJP spokesperson Amit Malviya.

Mr Malviya claimed the “fake video” was posted by several Congress spokespersons. “They must be prepared for legal consequences,” he posted on X.

.@INCTelangana is spreading an edited video, which is completely fake and has the potential to cause large scale violence.
Home Minister Amit Shah spoke about removing the unconstitutional reservation given to Muslims, on the basis of religion, after reducing share of SCs/STs and… pic.twitter.com/5plMsEHCe3

— Amit Malviya (मोदी का परिवार) (@amitmalviya) April 27, 2024

Amid the raging controversy, Amit Shah on Sunday reaffirmed that as long as the BJP-led NDA was in power, there would be no rethink on reservations or quotas to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. He also targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his charge that the BJP wants to take back reservations if elected for a third term.

“Rahul Gandhi is trying to mislead people by spreading canards against us. The BJP has been at the helm of this country for 10 years now and was elected with absolute majority twice. If we had, indeed, been working with the intention or motivation to put an end to reservations in the country, it would have happened by now. These are nothing but lies,” Mr Shah told ANI.

Rahul Gandhi had earlier claimed that the BJP-ruled Centre wants to alter the country’s Constitution and take away the reservations and other rights of the backward communities and Dalits.

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