High Courts should not hand over the investigation of any case to CBI just because a private party writes a letter. The Supreme Court gave this order while hearing a case on Thursday. The court of Justice BR Gavai and Justice KV Vishwanathan said that the CBI should be handed over the investigation only in very rare cases. This should happen only when the court is convinced that the state police cannot do justice in this case. The bench said, ‘There is no doubt that under Article 226 of the Constitution, the High Court can hand over the investigation of any case to the CBI. But while doing so, they should also keep this in mind and also give reasons why they do not believe that the state police will not investigate the matter properly.
The judges said that it is not right to hand over the investigation to CBI merely on the basis of some people writing letters. Along with this, the court rejected the order of Kolkata High Court, which on April 19 had said that CBI should investigate irregularities in appointments in schools in Gorkhaland. The Bengal government had approached the Supreme Court against this decision of the High Court. While hearing this, the Supreme Court asked the High Courts to take care that decisions should not be taken only on the basis of letters from some private parties. The court can take such a decision, but proper reason will have to be given for it.
The single judge bench of Kolkata High Court had on April 9 ordered a CBI inquiry into the appointments. This order was made on the basis of letters sent by many people living in Darjeeling. Those letters alleged that Gorkhaland Tribal Administration officials had made wrong appointments under political pressure. The allegation was that the appointment of 700 to 1000 teachers was illegal and it should be investigated by the CBI. On the basis of these letters, the High Court had ordered a CBI investigation. Against this, the Mamata Banerjee government approached the Supreme Court, from where this decision has come.