New Delhi: Justice S N Shukla of Allahabad High Court has become the first sitting judge to be probed by the CBI in a corruption case after a nod from the Chief Justice of India, media reports said on Wednesday.
Justice Shukla is alleged to have favoured a private medical college in Lucknow by extending the deadline for admission in clear violation of the Supreme Court ruling. The college was banned by the government for failing to meet the Medical Council of India norms.
Justice Shukla was even asked by the former CJI Dipak Misra to resign and take voluntary retirement. He, however, declined to adhere by the CJI’s direction, following which all judicial work was withdrawn from him in 2018, media reports said.
Justice Misra had set up a panel of judges to investigate whether Justice Shukla had favoured the medical college.
The present CJI Ranjan Gogoi had also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impeach Justice Shukla in Parliament.
This is the first time since a 1991 Supreme Court judgment that a sitting judge will be probed by the CBI.