The Central Bureau of Investigation has received sanction to prosecute retired Allahabad High Court judge SN Shukla in a corruption case, The Indian Express reported on Friday. The allegations against Shukla pertain to the Medical Council of India bribery case.
The High Court has granted the sanction, allowing the agency to file a chargesheet, according to The Hindu.
An unidentified CBI official told The Indian Express that the sanction to prosecute the retired judge arrived on Thursday evening. “Investigations against him are complete and the chargesheet will be filed soon,” the official said.
In July 2019, then Chief Justice of India had permitted the CBI to file a case against Shukla, who was serving as an Allahabad High Court judge at the time. The agency registered a corruption case against him in December that year.
In 1991, the Supreme Court had ruled that investigating agencies must show evidence to the chief justice before filing a case against a sitting judge of the top court or High Courts. This was reportedly the first time the chief justice had approved such a request.
The alleged scam involves some medical colleges that were denied permission to function by the Medical Council of India. The CBI has accused Shukla of accepting bribes in exchange for passing an order in favour of a private medical college, the Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences. A middleman allegedly assured the college that the judiciary would allow them to keep running. The institute then allegedly paid the middleman to facilitate this.
Besides Shukla, former Orissa High Court judge IM Quddusi and four others – Bhawana Pandey, Bhagwan Prasad Yadav and Palash Yadav of Prasad Education trust, and an alleged middleman Sudhir Giri – have been booked in the case.
The CBI has already filed a chargesheet against Quddusi. It did not need sanction to prosecute him as he had retired at the time when the alleged crime took place, as noted by The Hindu.
The case
The CBI, in its FIR, has stated that Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences was debarred in May 2017 by the central government from admitting medical students in 2017-’18 and 2018-’19 academic years. The government is said to have cited substandard facilities and non-fulfillment of required criteria. It had also taken action against 46 other medical colleges on similar grounds.
The Prasad Education trust challenged the decision before the Supreme Court through a writ petition, according to the CBI.
“Subsequently, a conspiracy was hatched among the FIR named accused and the writ petition was withdrawn with the permission of the court,” the agency said in its FIR. “Another writ petition was filed before Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court on August 24, 2017.”
“...The petition was heard on August 25, 2017, by the division bench of the court comprising of Justice SN Shukla and a favourable order was passed on the same day,” the CBI said.
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