Allahabad high court stays CBI probe into recruitment of basic teachers

LUCKNOW: In a major relief to Uttar Pradesh government, the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court on Tuesday stayed the order of a single-judge bench who on November 1, 2018, had ordered a CBI probe into the appointment process of 68,500 assistant basic teachers in the state.
On November 1, 2018, Justice Irshad Ali had directed the CBI to investigate into the entire process of selection for the recruitment of assistant teachers in primary schools against 68,500 posts, in connection with Assistant Teachers Recruitment Examination, 2018, initiated in pursuance to an advertisement issued on January 23, 2018.Opposing the allegations of corruption in the appointment process, the state government had filed a special appeal against the single-judge order.
Passing the interim order, a division bench of chief justice Govind Mathur and Justice Manish Mathur restrained the CBI from proceeding further with the investigation which is yet to start on the FIR registered by it recently. The division bench was of the view that it was improper on the part of Justice Irshad Ali to record a finding of corruption without any inquiry in the recruitment process.
On behalf of the state government, advocate general Raghvendra Singh argued that there was no aspect of criminality in the appointment process and the single-judge bench committed serious error in recording finding that there was an element of corruption in the appointment process. Singh further said that there had been some mistake on the part of the examiner and those mistakes were corrected and as such there was no need to pass the order for CBI investigation into the whole appointment process.
Accepting Singh’s plea, the division bench was prima facie satisfied that the CBI investigation was not required in the matter and passed interim directions staying order passed in November.