The Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, has given permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prosecute the sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court, SN Shukla, under the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).
Justice Shukla was found guilty of giving favours to GCRG Institute of Medical Science by extending deadline for MBBS admission in 2017. This is the first time a High Court judge is being investigated by the CBI as a case cannot be filed against a sitting judge without the permission of the CJI.
The complaint said Justice Shukla granted favours to the medical college by extending the student's admission deadline in violation of the Supreme Court order. After receiving the complaint, the then Chief Justice Dipak Misra had set-up an in-house panel comprising three high court judges to investigate the matter.
The panel, after finding sufficient evidence in the allegations over Justice Shukla, concluded that he should be removed saying that he acted in a manner unbecoming of a judge and lowered the majesty and credibility of his office. Former CJI Misra had asked Justice Shukla to either resign or take voluntary retirement but he declined and judicial work was withdrawn from him in January 2018.
It is alleged that Justice Shukla made handwritten changes in his own bench's order, days after the Supreme Court barred the High Court from allowing the Lucknow-based medical college to admit students for the year 2017-18.
The CBI had written to Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi asking permission to investigate Justice Shukla. In June, Gogoi wriote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for a motion in Parliament to indict Justice Shukla.
