NEW DELHI: Ordering the release of TMC youth wing functionary Kuntal Ghosh on bail in the primary teacher recruitment scam, Supreme Court on Friday imposed a novel bail condition – he will be barred from holding any public post.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan said though the charges against Ghosh were serious as many candidates were allegedly deprived of appointment due to placement of many undeserving candidates in those posts in lieu of huge amounts of bribes, “the fact of the matter is that the investigations into such a large scam would take time and hence there is no chance of early conclusion of the trial against the accused persons”. The case is being probed by CBI.
“Keeping in view the well settled principles of criminal jurisprudence, an accused cannot be kept in jail as an undertrial for an indefinite period. The investigations into the huge scam naturally will take time and hence the accused could be released on bail after imposing stringent conditions,” the bench said.
Additional solicitor general Rajkumar B Thakare, appearing for CBI, said the right of the accused to get bail is one thing, but the court must also consider the fact that hundreds of deserving candidates’ right to livelihood was violated by Ghosh.
When it became apparent that the bench was inclined to grant bail to Ghosh, the ASG said he should be barred from holding any political post as he was an influential person in governing party circles and there was a likelihood of him tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses.
The bench said it could not bar Ghosh from holding political posts. However it said, Ghosh shall not hold any public post.
