Alleged Malpractices in AYUSH Admission in UP: Supreme Court Stays HC Order of CBI Probe

New Delhi: Providing relief to the Uttar Pradesh Government, the Supreme Court on Monday put a stay on the CBI probe in the alleged malpractices in AYUSH admissions in the State in 2019.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe was ordered by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court which had asked the CBI to lodge a case and probe the allegations of bribery against former Uttar Pradesh Ayush minister Dharam Singh Saini, then additional chief secretary, Ayush department, Prashant Trivedi and others.

Further, the High Court had also asked the CBI to submit a status report on the matter by August 1, 2023. The HC bench had passed the order for a CBI probe while considering the bail plea of Dr. Ritu Garg.

However, challenging the HC order dated May 24, the State Government moved to the top court and a vacation bench of justices Dipankar Datta and Manoj Misra has now stayed a part of the Allahabad High Court order which directed the CBI to probe alleged malpractices in admission to various courses in ‘Ayush’ colleges in the state, reports PTI.

While considering the submissions of Additional Solicitor General K M Natraj, appearing for the State Government, the Supreme Court bench also issued notices to Garg and others. The UP government also assailed the grant of bail to Garg.

In the Ayush scam case, in November 2022, anomalies were flagged by the Union Ministry of Ayush in the admission of undergraduate students to the state's government and private ayurvedic, unani and homoeopathy colleges. The probe revealed that 932 students were admitted without following the natural order of merit.

Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that while investigating the AYUSH admission scam, the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UPSTF) had charged the former director of Ayurveda Department, counselling in charge and 13 others for forging the NEET merit list.

Also Read: NEET list forged in Uttar Pradesh: Ayurveda Dept ex-director, 14 others charged by Special Task Force

STF has already filed a charge sheet against Prof Dr SN Singh, former Director Ayurveda Services - Member Secretary, Counseling, Principal and Superintendent, and Umakant Yadav, Officer-in-Charge, Directorate of Education, Ayurveda Services, the original post, Professor Government Ayurveda Medical College and were also suspended in November.

Garg has been arrested for allegedly facilitating the admission of undeserving candidates by forging the NEET merit list in connivance with former Ayurveda director SN Singh and counselling incharge Umakant Yadav.

Previously, Garg had moved the bail plea in the high court saying she was falsely implicated in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) 2021-22 fake admissions case. Granting bail to her, the high court had said the records did not show any evidence indicating her involvement in falsifying the test results.

Allowing the bail application of Garg, the HC bench had heard the statement of Dr. Umakant Singh, the officer in charge, of the Ayurveda Directorate, who had given a detailed statement to police on how cuts were distributed among the former minister, senior IAS officer Trivedi and other key officials of the Ayush department.

"After looking at such wrongdoing by the authorities for admission in undergraduate and postgraduate courses and that too, in the name of compliance of an order of the apex court, depriving the eligible students, as also on finding grave lapses on the part of the investigating agency, which may have fatal consequences for the justice delivery system, this court cannot simply shut its eyes," the high court had said.

The high court had also noted the investigating officer had recorded the statement of Umakant Singh, who had categorically spoken about corruption in the 2019 admissions and claimed while Saini had taken a bribe of Rs 35 lakh at his residence, Trivedi had pocketed Rs 25 lakh.

Challenging the HC direction for CBI probe, Advocate Ruchira Goel approached the Supreme Court bench on the ground that the High Court had transgressed its jurisdiction as Bail court - under sections 439 CrPC, its jurisdiction is limited to grant/denial of bail - it cannot decide to exercise alleged Art. 226 inherent powers. UP Govt also said that even otherwise, no case is made out for CBI inquiry - State STF is investigating, one chargesheet is filed, cognizance taken against 15 accused, supplementary chargesheet about to be filed, etc.

Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj questioned how a CBI investigation could be ordered when the High Court was dealing with a bail matter. Uttar Pradesh Government has not taken exception to the order granting bail to one of the accused but challenged the portion of the order which directs CBI investigation into the matter.

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (UPSTF) is currently probing the Ayush admission scam and recently arrested Ritu Garg, the Director of Santushti Ayurvedic Medical College in Mirzapur.

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