Supreme Court stays CBI probe in AYUSH department college admissions ‘scam' after Uttar Pradesh government appeal

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed an Allahabad High Court order directing a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged irregularities in admissions to Ayurveda and Unani colleges by the Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) Department in Uttar Pradesh. [Uttar Pradesh v. Ritu Garg].A vacation bench of Justices Dipankar Datta and Manoj Misra passed the interim order. "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 direction of CBI probe by the High Court. The CBI probe order be stayed in the meanwhile," the Court said..The Court also noted that the High Court had ordered for the CBI probe in a bail order, while invoking its inherent powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, read with Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)..The top court, however, did not stay the part of the High Court order granting bail to Dr Ritu Garg, an accused in the case.Garg, who runs a diagnostic centre and an ayurvedic college, was arrested in February this year in connection with the case lodged at the Hazratganj Police Station in Lucknow on charges of cheating and criminal conspiracy, among other charges..Additional Solicitor General (ASG) KM Nataraj, appearing for the State of Uttar Pradesh, submitted that a CBI probe could not have been ordered by the High Court while deciding on a bail application filed under Section 439 CrPC. The ASG further submitted that the decision to hand over the probe to the CBI was against the law settled in Supreme Court decisions. .The Uttar Pradesh Police had earlier filed a chargesheet in the case against 14 persons, including 5 government employees, on various charges.The High Court had taken serious note of the allegations in the case diary, in which a statement of Dr Umakant Singh, the Ayurveda Directorate officer-in-charge, was recorded under Section 161 CrPC..The High Court had opined that it cannot “simply shut its eyes” to such wrongdoings by the authorities for admission to undergraduate and post-graduate courses, thereby depriving eligible students. As such, it had ordered a CBI inquiry into the scam, which it observed had resulted in the admission of unmeritorious students.