Gov allows CBI to chargesheet 4 TMC ex-mantris for Narada

■ 2 of them among 43 to take oath today ■ Mitra will be FM again

West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar has given his “sanction for prosecution” to the Central Bureau of Investigation to chargesheet four former Trinamul Congress Cabinet ministers — Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, Madan Mitra and Sovan Chatterjee — in the high-profile Narada sting operation case.

Interestingly, except for Mr Chatterjee, the other heavyweights contested and won the Assembly election this time, becoming MLAs again. Among them, Mr Hakim and Mr Mukherjee are also due to take the oath from Mr Dhankhar as Cabinet ministers, among a list of 43 for the swearing-in ceremony at Raj Bhavan on Monday morning.

It is pertinent to note that the rules require the investigating agencies to seek the permission of both the governor and the Assembly Speaker for the prosecution of state ministers and MLAs respectively. In this case, the CBI had not sought permission from the outgoing Speaker, who holds the post till a new Speaker is elected, or even the pro-tem speaker. This means the CBI’s action and the governor’s sanction for prosecution might be open to a legal challenge.

The list of 43 ministers to be sworn in on Monday includes former state finance minister Amit Mitra, who is likely to

return to that post and become finance minister for the third time despite the fact that had not contested the Assembly polls this time.

There will also be 16 new faces like Manas Bhuniya, cricketer Manoj Tiwari, retired IPS officer Humayun Kabir and Seuli Saha. In 2011, Mr Bhuniya became a minister when he was in the Congress, which was an ally of the TMC then. Ten MLAs will be ministers of state (independent charge) while nine others will be ministers of state working under a Cabinet minister.

On Sunday afternoon Raj Bhavan said: “Hon’ble Governor of the State of West Bengal Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar accorded sanction for prosecution in respect of (1) Shri Firhad Hakim, (2) Shri Subrata Mukherjee, (3) Shri Madan Mitra and (4) Shri Sovan Chatterjee, for the reason that all of them at the relevant time of commission of crime were holding the position of Ministers in the Government of West Bengal.”

It said: “Hon’ble Governor is the competent authority to accord sanction in terms of law as he happens to be the appointing authority for such Ministers in terms of Article 164 of the Constitution... ”

According to Raj Bhavan: “The impression generated in some quarters of the media that sanction has come to be accorded because these persons at the relevant time were Members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly is factually untenable. The premise of the sanction as indicated is that these persons at the relevant point of time of commission of crime were holding the position of Ministers in the Government of West Bengal.”