The Supreme Court has recently stayed an Allahabad High Court order directing a CBI probe into alleged irregularities in admissions to Ayurveda and Unani colleges by the AYUSH Department in Uttar Pradesh.
A vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manoj Misra passed the interim order.
The Court stated that “The Uttar Pradesh government does not take exception to the order granting bail but challenges the CBI probe based on the Supreme Court judgment of Murugesan & Ors as plainly illegal. Issue notice limited to the question of the direction of CBI probe by the High Court. The CBI probe order be stayed in the meanwhile.”
The Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj, representing the State of Uttar Pradesh, argued the High Court’s decision to order a CBI probe while deciding a bail application under Section 439 of the CrPC was against settled law as established by the Supreme Court.
Previously, the Uttar Pradesh Police had filed a chargesheet against 14 individuals, including 5 government employees, on various charges related to the case.
The High Court took note of the serious allegations in the case diary, which included a statement from Dr. Umakant Singh, the Ayurveda Directorate officer-in-charge, recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC.
The High Court expressed its concern over the wrongdoing by authorities in the admission process for undergraduate and postgraduate courses, depriving deserving students of their rightful opportunities.
Consequently, the High Court ordered a CBI inquiry into the scam, which it believed resulted in the admission of unmeritorious students.
