Lawyer Prashant Bhushan wants Allahabad HC judge booked in MCI bribery case, writes to CJI

Prashant Bhushan | Facebook

CJI Dipak Misra recommended Justice Shukla’s impeachment to President Ram Nath Kovind, but Modi government is to act on it.

New Delhi: Advocate Prashant Bhushan has written a letter to Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, seeking his permission to file an FIR against Allahabad High Court judge Narayan Shukla in what is known as the MCI bribery case.

The move comes almost seven months after Shukla was found guilty by a committee of judges headed by Madras High Court Chief Justice Indira Banerjee. Based on the committee’s report, CJI Misra had recommended Justice Shukla’s impeachment to President Ram Nath Kovind. However, the Narendra Modi government is yet to act on it.

Justice Shukla has not been assigned any judicial work since 23 January.

In his letter to the CJI Misra, Bhushan highlighted the preliminary enquiry (PE) by the CBI, which stated “facts related to Shukla meeting middlemen and functionaries of the Prasad Educational Trust, Lucknow, and receiving illegal gratification” in lieu of favourable orders.

“The PE records the precise dates on which the middlemen met Justice Narayan Shukla to deliver the illegal gratification at his residence,” Bhushan’s letter reads.

“The statements made in the PE against Justice Narayan Shukla are based on evidence the CBI had already gathered while conducting the preliminary enquiry against the middlemen and college officials, including one retired judge of the Orissa High Court in the same conspiracy to bribe, which later became the basis of the FIR registered by the CBI against them,” Bhushan said in his letter.

“After registration of the FIR, raids were conducted on the middlemen and large amount of cash intercepted. The middlemen and retired Justice Quddussi were also arrested and later released on bail,” Bhushan added.

The case against Justice Shukla

Last year, a bench of the Allahabad High Court headed by Justice Shukla went out of its way to arbitrarily provide relief to medical colleges debarred by the Centre from admitting students for two years (2017-18 and 2018-19). The Centre’s move came on the recommendation of the Medical Council of India (MCI).

Justice Shukla, in what amounts to grave impropriety, also made unilateral changes to an order passed by the bench to provide undue benefit to the erring colleges.

Now known as the MCI scam, the matter hit the headlines after the CBI arrested former Orissa High Court judge I.M. Quddusi and some middlemen for their alleged involvement in attempts to “buy relief” from the Allahabad High Court and the Supreme Court.

The CBI has, in its possession, phone conversations involving Quddusi and others that reportedly suggest that the rot runs much deeper than what was initially believed.

Bigger conspiracy

In his letter, Bhushan reminded CJI Misra that on 6 September 2017, the CBI met him and showed evidence that conclusively establish Shukla’s involvement in the “conspiracy to  receive a bribe in order to grant a favourable order”.

The next day, the CBI had even made plans to catch Shukla red-handed with the money he was supposed to refund the college authorities. However, the agency was denied permission to file an FIR, Bhushan wrote in his letter.

In the 10-page letter, Bhushan further told Misra that the “facts and circumstances” surrounding the medical college scam was also “one of the charges in the impeachment motion against” the CJI.

Bhushan then added that since the CBI has already made note of Misra’s denial of permission to book Shukla, the current matter should be dealt by another senior judge of the top court.