The Supreme Court has directed the trial of a disproportionate assets case against former Allahabad high court judge, justice (retd) Shri Narayan Shukla, to be transferred from Lucknow to a Delhi court hearing a corruption case against him.
The order was passed on October 14 by a bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi in a transfer petition filed by the former judge. Shukla retired in July 2020 after he was accused of taking a bribe to pass an order favouring Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences – a Lucknow-based medical college debarred in May 2017 from admitting students by the Medical Council of India (MCI).
A charge sheet was filed against Shukla by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the corruption case, and the trial is pending before the Delhi court. During this investigation, CBI lodged another criminal case in 2023 against the former judge for allegedly acquiring disproportionate assets worth over ₹2.5 crore between 2014 and 2019. This case, too, was registered by CBI but the trial proceeded before a Lucknow CBI court. Since the present proceedings emerged from the earlier corruption case, Shukla sought the transfer of the Lucknow trial to Delhi.
Allowing the petition, the top court order said, “Sessions Case No.737/2026 titled “CBI v. Narayan Shukla & Anr.”, which is pending before the Court of Special Judge, Anti-Corruption, CBI, West Lucknow, U.P. is ordered to be transferred to the Court of Special Judge (PC Act) CBI, Rouse Avenue Court, Central District, New Delhi.”
The court also directed the accused along with his family members named in the DA case to fully cooperate with the trial without seeking any unnecessary adjournment. The court further told CBI to identify such official witnesses who can be examined through video conferencing in order to ensure the trial is expedited.
Advocate Sanjay Mani Tripathi, who appeared for the former judge, had argued before the top court that the DA proceedings arise out of the same FIR and charge sheet in the alleged bribery case pending in Delhi. He said that despite the FIR in the DA case being filed in Delhi, the trial was held at Lucknow.
The CBI represented by additional solicitor general (ASG) Davinder Pal Singh did not oppose the request as he stated no difficulty if both the trials are conducted by the court of competent jurisdiction in Delhi. Already, the CBI has filed a charge sheet in the DA case as well.
The alleged bribery case took place during this period when, as a judge of the Allahabad high court, Shukla passed an order on August 25, 2017 in favour of Prakash Education Trust allowing the debarred college to admit students. CBI registered a case against the former judge and others in December 2019 that resulted in a charge sheet filed in December 2021 before the Special Judge hearing CBI cases in the Rouse Avenue Courts.
The investigators allege that Shukla facilitated the order in conspiracy with retired Orissa high court judge, justice (retd) IM Quddusi, along with the Prasad Medical College owners Bhagwan Prasad Yadav and Palash Yadav, and Bhawana Pandey acting as an intermediary along with Sudhir Giri.
Prasad Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) was barred by the Medical Council of India in 2017 over substandard facilities. It was one among the 47 medical colleges that were restrained from admitting students for the admission years 2017-18 and 2018-19.
According to CBI, PIMS challenged the MCI decision before the top court. However, it later withdrew the petition and filed a fresh plea in the high court. Shukla allegedly met the owner of PIMS along with former judge Qudussi at his residence pursuant to which the favourable order was passed by a bench comprising Shukla.
CBI approached the then-CJI Dipak Misra to conduct a probe against Shukla, then a sitting judge of the high court. An in-house committee constituted by the then CJI which concluded that Shukla was guilty of judicial malpractice which established the ground for his removal under the Constitution. Based on the report, all judicial and administrative work was withdrawn from Shukla even as the probe against him continued.
In July 2019, CBI approached the then-CJI Ranjan Gogoi for permission to prosecute the former judge. Gogoi granted the permission and even recommended to the Centre that Shukla be removed. Even as the matter remained pending, Shukla retired in July 2020.