Medical College Bribery Scam: Supreme Court dismisses Curative Petition by CJAR, costs of Rs. 25 lakh remains

The Supreme Court has dismissed the curative petition filed by NGO Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms (CJAR) against the December 2017 verdict in the Medical college Bribery scam..The curative petition was decided by a Bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Madan B Lokur, AK Sikri, Arun Mishra and AM Khanwilkar..“We have gone through the Curative Petition and the connected papers. In our opinion, no case is made out within the parameters indicated in the decision of this Court in the case of Rupa Ashok Hurra vs. Ashok Hurra & Another, reported in 2002 (4) SCC 388. Hence, the Curative Petition is dismissed.”.In its December 2017 judgment, the Supreme Court had imposed costs of Rs. 25 lakh on CJAR for “contemptuous conduct”..CJAR had then filed a review petition against this verdict which was dismissed..By way of background, CJAR had filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking a Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by an ex-CJI to probe allegations of impropriety raised in the FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)..This, after the CBI in its FIR had implicated former Orissa High Court judge IM Quddusi in a conspiracy related to the opening of medical colleges. The FIR had stated that Quddusi had made an attempt to influence members of the higher judiciary to get a favourable ruling for one Prasad Educational Trust..A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Amitava Roy and AM Khanwilkar had previously heard a batch of matters relating to the opening of medical colleges. The petitioner had, therefore, demanded the recusal of two judges – CJI Dipak Misra and Justice AM Khanwilkar – from hearing the case, alleging a conflict of interest, since both judges were part of the Bench that had heard the medical college matter. This led to a controversial chain of events..Eventually, the petition came to be heard by a Bench of Justices RK Agrawal, Arun Mishra and AM Khanwilkar which had dismissed CJAR’s plea on December 1, 2017, and had imposed costs of Rs. 25 lakh..With the dismissal of the curative petition, CJAR will have to pay costs of Rs. 25 lakh..Read the order in the Curative below.