Prosecute Bhopal med college dean for perjury: SC

NEW DELHI: In a first of its kind case, the Supreme Court has ordered prosecution of the dean of Bhopal-based RKDF Medical College for presenting false evidence, which carries a maximum punishment of seven years imprisonment, on the institution's infrastructure, faculty and other facilities to trick the apex court into directing the Centre to permit it to admit 150 students in the MBBS course.
A bench of Justices S A Bobde, L Nageswara Rao and R Subhash Reddy also imposed a penalty of Rs 5 crore on the medical college, which had moved Madhya Pradesh high court, Delhi HC and the SC at various stages and different years to challenge Medical Council of India's inspection report which found gross deficiencies and recommended rejection of permission for admission to the MBBS course for 2015-16, a year after the college was set up in 2014.
Repeated inspections were ordered by the SC, Delhi HC and Madhya Pradesh HC as the college, after presenting fabricated documents, managed to get provisional nod for admitting 150 students to the second MBBS batch. However, the tricks up its sleeve were exhausted when the time came for admissions to the third batch of MBBS students for the academic year 2017-18.
The SC was informed by senior advocate Vikas Singh and counsel Gaurav Sharma, who appeared for MCI, that the college had repeatedly fudged records and an inquiry had shown that many faculty members purportedly on the payroll actually had their private practice or were working in private hospitals.
On being caught red-handed, the college attempted to wriggle out of the serious consequences of its illegal act by tendering an unconditional apology. But the bench rejected the apology and said those who deliberately attempted to mislead the court aiming to get commercial benefit must not be let off.
Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Rao said, "S S Kushwaha, dean of RKDF Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, is liable for prosecution under Section 193 IPC. The secretary general of this court is directed to depute an officer to initiate the prosecution in a competent court having jurisdiction in Delhi."
The bench barred the college from admitting any student for the academic years 2018-19 and 2019-20. It ordered the penalty amount of Rs 5 crore to be paid to the SC Legal Aid Committee. "The students are entitled to receive refund of fee paid by them for admission to the college for the academic year 2017-18," the order said. In addition, the college was directed to pay compensation of Rs 1 lakh to each student.