MCI Approval Scam: Allahabad High Court Judge Narayan Shukla to be removed

All Judicial work has been taken away from Justice Shri Narayan Shukla of the Allahabad High Court by the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, on the directive of the Chief Justice of India, Deepak Mishra. The CJI now plans to recommend the initiation of Justice Shukla’s removal as per para 7(ii) of the constitution, since he has refused to resign or take voluntary retirement as asked for by the Chief Justice of India, due to his alleged involvement in the medical college admission scam. The CJI will need to inform the President and the Prime Minister about his decision to taking away all judicial work from Justice Shukla.

The CJI’s removal decision comes after a three-Judge in-house committee reverted back to him with findings that went against the Allahabad High Court Judge, Narayan Shukla. Justice Shukla is said to have allegedly permitted a private medical college to admit students for the academic year 2017-18, despite the ban imposed by the MCI and the Supreme Court.

A complaint in this regard had been made to the Chief Justice last year leading to him constituting an in-house inquiry comprising of Sikkim, High Court, SK Agnihotri, Madhya Pradesh, HC judge, PK Jaiswal and the Madras High Court, Chief Justice Indira Banerjee.

According to a TOI report, the inquiry committee found that Justice Shukla had “disgraced the values of judicial life, acted in a manner unbecoming of a judge, lowered the majesty, dignity, and credibility of... his office”.

HT reports that As per the Constitution, a judge can be removed only on the ground of proven misbehaviour or incapacity. The complaint about misbehaviour or incapacity against a judge has to be probed under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968. A removal motion signed by 100 members in case of the Lok Sabha or 50 members in case of the Rajya Sabha is to be given to the Speaker or the chairperson.

The House will then constitute a three-member committee to investigate the charges. The committee should consist of the Chief Justice or a judge of the Supreme Court, a Chief Justice of a high court and a distinguished jurist.

In an earlier story done by the Medical Dialogues team, it was reported that an In-House Inquiry Committee was constituted by the Chief Justice of India, Deepak Mishra to look into pending charges of corruption against the sitting judge of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Narayan Shukla in the Medical Council of India (MCI) case, in its report submitted to the CJI has carried certain adverse comments against the Judges doings.

The alleged charges which initiated an inquiry are related to the Allahabad High Court Judge, Justice Narayan Shukla granting admission permission to a certain private medical college despite an MCI ban, and the Supreme Court rulings on the case.

The Allahabad High Court judge came under the CBE scanner after he made hand-written corrections on September 4, 2017, to his own bench’s order of September 1, allowing a medical college in Uttar Pradesh to admit students for the 2017-18 session. This came as surpassing of a supreme court order by him eight days after the apex court had barred all the High Courts from giving permission to the Lucknow-based GCRG Institute of Medical Science from taking in fresh admissions for the academic session 2017-18.Read also: MCI Approval case: In House Inquiry submits adverse remarks against Allahabad High Court Judge