The Madras High Court has refused to quash a case booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Puducherry Health Secretary B. R. Babu and other members of the Union Territory’s Centralised Admission Committee (Centac) over the alleged “illegal” admissions in post graduate courses last year.
Justice G. Jayachandran dismissed a quash petition preferred by the committee members and rejected their contention that the CBI had no authority to register a case without the consent of the Puducherry government. He held that such consent was not required to investigate offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988.
“The Prevention of Corruption Act extends to whole of India except to the State of Jammu and Kashmir... So, in the light of the above, this court holds that CBI has territorial jurisdiction over the Union Territory of Puducherry by virtue of Section 2(2) of and Section 5 of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act of 1940 (which governs the functions of CBI),” he said.
The judge went on to state: “If they (present petitioners) have any valuable defence, they can establish the same by cooperating with the investigating agency. There is no necessity to put spokes in the wheel of investigation for unsustainable reasons.” According to the prosecution, members of Centac had abused their official positions and denied PG medical seats to bona fide candidates.
