Lucknow, The Allahabad High Court granted interim relief to former chief medical officer Dr Anil Kumar Shukla by staying ongoing prosecution proceedings in three cases linked to the National Rural Health Mission .
The cases are pending before a Special Judge of the Central Bureau of Investigation in Ghaziabad. The court has directed the CBI to file its reply by the first week of May.
A bench of Justice Rajeev Singh passed the order on Tuesday on three separate petitions filed by Shukla under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita .
According to the prosecution, the cases, registered by the CBI in New Delhi, relate to alleged irregularities in the procurement of medicines and equipment between 2007 and 2009, resulting in loss to the government exchequer. Chargesheets have already been filed in all three matters.
Appearing for the petitioner, senior advocate Nandit Srivastava argued that there was no concrete evidence against Shukla. He submitted that a discharge application filed before the trial court remains pending, prompting the petitioner to move the high court. He also contended that Shukla, given his advanced age, was being subjected to unnecessary harassment.
Opposing the plea, CBI’s special counsel Anurag Kumar Singh raised a preliminary objection, saying that the petitions were not maintainable as the discharge application was still pending before the trial court in Ghaziabad.
Rejecting the objection, the bench observed that the alleged incidents date back 17 to 19 years. It noted that in one of the cases, the petitioner had served as CMO for only one-and-a-half days.
The court also flagged discrepancies between the chargesheets and cognisance orders, and pointed out that in one case, a supplementary chargesheet had been filed without the requisite prosecution sanction.
The bench further observed that such a prolonged delay in the trial could prejudice the defence of the accused, particularly considering that Shukla is around 73 years old.
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