Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 31
In an unprecedented move, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has allowed the CBI to register a criminal case against Justice SN Shukla – a sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court – an in-house panel of judges indicted him for granting favours to a private medical college in MBBS admission.
The CJI has already written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to initiate proceedings for removal of Justice Shukla, from whom all judicial work was withdrawn following the allegation.
The permission for registration of an FIR follows a request made by the probe agency to the CJI that a preliminary enquiry was registered by it against Justice Shukla and others on the advice of Justice Gogoi’s predecessor Justice Dipak Misra had found some material against the judge and that a regular case needed to be registered.
Seeking permission for registration of an FIR, the agency placed a note on the preliminary enquiry and a chronological chart explaining the judge’s alleged misconduct.
“In the facts and circumstances of the case I am constrained to grant permission to initiate a regular case for investigation as sought for in your letter...,” CJI Gogoi responded the the CBI’s request.
According to the top court’s ruling in Justice K Veeraswamy case (1991), no criminal case can be registered against a sitting judge of the Supreme Court or a high court without permission of the CJI.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Advocate General had brought Justice Shukla’s alleged misconduct to the notice of the then CJI Misra in 2017. Thereafter, a three-judge panel headed by Justice Indira Banerjee had indicted him, saying there was substance in allegations against him.
from The Tribune https://ift.tt/2K5VDSo
via Today’s News Headlines
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