Calcutta HC directs state varsity in Bengal to file affidavit against reappointment of tainted registrar

Kolkata, Sep 9 A single-judge bench of the Calcutta High Court, on Tuesday, directed the authorities of a state university in West Bengal to file an affidavit to the court explaining why re-appointment was given to a former registrar of the same university, who was earlier accused of financial forgery.

The state university in question is the Burdwan University in East Burdwan district of West Bengal, and the tainted former registrar of the same university in the matter is Sujit Chowdhury.

During his earlier tenure as a registrar of the university, there were charges of financial irregularity to the tune of Rs 2 crore.

A petition was filed at the Calcutta High Court recently against the decision of the university authorities to reappoint him.

The matter came up for hearing at the Calcutta High Court's single-judge bench of Justice Tirthankar Ghosh on Tuesday afternoon.

During the hearing, Justice Ghosh expressed surprise over the decision of the University authorities.

Thereafter, Justice Ghosh directed the Burdwan University authorities to file the affidavit explaining the rationale behind Chowdhury's re-appointment at his bench by September 25.

Justice Ghosh said that in the affidavit, the university authorities would have to give a detailed explanation to the court on how an accused was reappointed.

After the university will file its affidavit in the matter, the other parties in the case would be able to present their arguments in the matter.

The next hearing in the matter has been scheduled for December 9.

Initially, the investigation into the matter was conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of West Bengal.

However, later the court transferred the charge of investigation to a team of Kolkata Police.

However, even after that, the investigation did not progress much, and only one Group-D worker of the university, namely Bhakta Mondal, was arrested.

Justice Ghosh, on Tuesday, also questioned the role of the police in probing the matter.

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