The Madras High Court on Monday upheld an order directing the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) to register a First Information Report against 13 private medical colleges and all others involved in filling up 90 postgraduate medical seats without following merit criteria in 2020-21.
First Division Bench of Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice N. Mala also upheld the order passed by Justice M. Dhandapani on February 25 directing the State government to pay compensation of ₹4 lakh each to the meritorious students who could not obtain seats due to the illegality.
The Bench, however, interfered with the single judge’s direction to the Chief Secretary to stop the retirement benefits to G. Selvarajan, former secretary of the selection committee in the Directorate of Medical Education (DME). They agreed with his counsel Sricharan Rangarajan that the benefits could not be stopped before the departmental inquiry.
Authoring the verdict, the Chief Justice directed the government to ensure that the disciplinary proceedings initiated against the appellant gets completed within six months. It was made clear that the any delay in completing the proceedings would be viewed against the disciplinary authority and no extension would be given.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh had unearthed the illegality in October 2020 and ordered a CB-CID probe to find out if there was a conspiracy between the officials of the DME and the 13 private medical colleges in filling up the postgraduate seats. The probe revealed the involvement of Dr. Selvarajan.
Subsequently, when the matter was heard by Justice Dhandapani, he ordered the registration of FIR against all those concerned and issued a slew of directions which were challenged by the former secretary of the selection committee by way of the present appeal.
