The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over all Vyapam scam cases, involving irregularities in admissions and recruitment in Madhya Pradesh, irrespective of the stage of their investigations or trial.
“We direct the CBI to take over 72 cases which are in different stages, within three weeks,” said an apex court bench of Chief Justice Hl Dattu, Justice C. Nagappan and Justice Amitava Roy.
The apex court also directed the Special Task Force/Special Investigation Team that was investigating these cases earlier, and even till now, to extend all cooperation when 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 apex court asked the CBI to file a status report on compliance of its orders.
The Supreme Court on July 9 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 the central investigating agency.
Sources said the CBI told the court that it was facing severe manpower crisis and a work overload of 1,237 pending cases, besides the possibility of being cold-shouldered by the Vyapam Special Task Force (STF) and Special Investigation Team (SIT) from which the cases have got transferred to it.
But a three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice H.l. Dattu was in no mood to give the CBI any quarter, and insisted that it take over the assignment and complete the job.
“Whether it is simple, complicated, complex, super-complex... we don’t know, but you will take over. You cannot say that some cases the STF will continue to do, some others the SIT will do and some the CBI will do. You cannot make these excuses,” Chief Justice Dattu told Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar, who appeared for the CBI.