Medical College admission scam: CBI Gets Nod to Prosecute Former Allahabad HC Judge

The nod from the High Court has come after the CBI had applied for a go-ahead for prosecuting the retired judge on April 16, 2021, in accordance with the Prevention of Corruption Act. Now, with permission from the High Court, CBI can proceed with a charge sheet against the retired justice, reports PTI.

Besides Justice Shukla of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, the agency had also named retired Chhattisgarh High Court judge I M Quddusi, Bhagwan Prasad Yadav and Palash Yadav of the Prasad Education Trust, the trust itself, and private persons Bhavna Pandey and Sudhir Giri in the FIR, they said.

The accused were booked under Section 120B of the IPC (criminal conspiracy) and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The concerned judge was found to be involved in a corruption case for allegedly favouring a private medical college in his orders.

It is alleged that the Lucknow-based medical college was debarred by the Centre from admitting students due to substandard facilities and non-fulfilment of the required criteria in May 2017, along with 46 other medical colleges that were also debarred on similar grounds, the officials said.

The decision to debar was challenged by the trust before the Supreme Court through a writ petition, they added.

Subsequently, a conspiracy was hatched by those named in the FIR, and the petition was withdrawn with the court"s permission.

Another writ petition was filed before the Lucknow bench of the high court on August 24, 2017.

It was further alleged in the FIR that the petition was heard on August 25, 2017, by a division bench of the court comprising Justice Shukla and a favourable order was passed the same day, they added.

Medical Dialogues had reported back in 2018 that the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had decided to recommend the removal of Allahabad High Court judge Justice S N Shukla as part of an in-house procedure after he was found guilty of misconduct by an internal probe into the medical college admission scam.

Also Read: CJI decides to recommend removal of Justice Shukla

The move by the CJI had come on the basis of a report by a three-judge in-house committee, comprising Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee, Sikkim High Court Chief Justice S K Agnihotri, and Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Justice PK Jaiswal. The Committee had back then concluded that there was sufficient substance in the allegations contained in the complaint against Justice Shukla and that the aberrations were serious enough to call for initiation of proceedings for his removal.

Justice Shukla, who was heading a division bench in the high court, had allegedly defied the categorical restraint orders passed by a CJI-led bench of the apex court to permit private colleges to admit students for the 2017-18 academic session.

Two complaints, including one from the advocate general of the state, were received by the CJI on September 1, 2017, and the then CJI had constituted an in-house committee.

According to the inquiry committee report, Justice Shukla had "disgraced the values of judicial life, acted in a manner unbecoming of a judge", lowered the "majesty, dignity and credibility of his office" and acted in breach of his oath of office.

PTI adds that in order to get a favorable order, illegal gratification was allegedly paid to one of the accused named in the FIR by the trust, the officials said.

After filing the FIR, the CBI had conducted searches at multiple locations in Lucknow, Meerut, and Delhi, they said.