The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the appeals by Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee and his wife Rujira Banerjee against the Enforcement Directorate's summons in an alleged scam related to teachers’ recruitment in West Bengal, reported Live Law.

A bench of Justices Bela Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma had reserved the judgement on August 13.

The case pertains to jobs being allegedly given to candidates in return for money instead of those who had qualified in the recruitment process in 2019. A dozen officials of the state education department, including former minister Partha Chatterjee, have been arrested in the case.

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While the Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into the criminal aspect of the scam, the Enforcement Directorate is investigating the money trail involved in the alleged irregularities in the recruitment in schools.

The Trinamool Congress leader and his wife had told the court that Kolkata was their ordinary place of residence, but the summons by the Enforcement Directorate required them to appear before it in New Delhi.

They contended that the summons should be governed by the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, as the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, does not specify a procedure in this regard. They argued that they should be required to appear only in Kolkata, where the alleged offence took place.

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The Enforcement Directorate countered that Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act is not equivalent to Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and that the provisions of the money laundering law should take precedence.

Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act gives certain officials the power to summon people, require them to provide evidence and compel them to produce records.

Section 160 of the Code of Criminal Procedure deals with a police officer's power to require the attendance of witnesses.