Kolkata, Apr 25 (PTI) Prayers were made before the Chief Justice's bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday by a few lawyers seeking suo motu cognisance of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's "defamatory" statements over a judgement cancelling 25,753 school jobs in West Bengal for irregularities in the appointment process.

Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya submitted to the court an affidavit enclosing newspaper clippings of Banerjee's statements along with a pen drive containing the extract of the speech and sought suo motu initiation of criminal contempt against her.

Also Read | Cyberattacks in India: Hackers Attacked Indian Organisations 2,444 Times per Week on Average in Last Six Months, Says Report.

Another lawyer Kaustav Bagchi also submitted a representation requesting suo motu cognisance of the matter alleging "defamatory and malicious" comments by the chief minister over the judgement.

Bhattacharya is a CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP while Bangchi defected to the BJP from the Congress in February.

Also Read | Bikaner Land Sink: Around 1.5 Acre Farm Land Cave-in 70 Feet Below Surface Overnight in Rajasthan, GSI Survey Underway.

Two other lawyers also prayed for leave to file petitions with similar allegations, for which permission was granted by the bench comprising Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharya.

Chief Justice Sivagnanam directed that the papers, along with petitions, for which leave was granted to be filed, be placed before him for appropriate orders.

A division bench of the high court, presided by Justice Debangsu Basak, had on Monday declared the school jobs selection process as "null and void".

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)