Today (11 September 2015), a 3-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice C. Nagappan and Justice Amitava Roy, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over all 72 Vyapam scam cases – involving irregularities in admissions and recruitment in Madhya Pradesh – irrespective of the stage of their investigations or trial. The court asked the CBI to take over all these 72 cases which are in different stages, within three weeks.
It is pertinent to mention that earlier on July 9, 2015, the Supreme Court had handed over cases involving wrong-doings with regards to admissions and recruitment effected by Vyavsayik Pariksha Mandal (Vyapam) or Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) over the years to CBI.
The apex court also today directed the Special Task Force / Special Investigation Team (SIT) that was investigating these cases earlier, and even till now, to extend all co-operation in the investigation of these cases by CBI, if such a request was made by the CBI.
Noting that the CBI was already processing the appointment of 19 public prosecutors to lead its cases before the trial court, the Supreme Court asked it to complete the appointment of 48 public prosecutors needed to cover 24 trial courts.
Fixing October 9, 2015, as the next date of hearing in the case, the Supreme Court asked the CBI to file a status report on compliance of its orders.
As Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the court of the difficulty that the probe agency was facing in getting the required manpower, the court reminded him of the commitment made by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi that the agency would take over all the cases including the appointment of public prosecutors.
Appearing for the department of personnel and training, Rohatgi told the court that the investigating agency had 6,000 people and another 900 are being recruited. He told the court that difficulty was that they needed police officers of the rank of inspector or sub-inspectors but people from state police were not inclined to come to CBI.
As senior counsel K.T.S.Tulsi appearing for one of the petitioners said that generally it has been seen that people are happy to come to CBI on deputation, Rohatgi said that it was only in the case of senior officers and not ground-level officers.
