Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Feb 6: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court today rapped State’s premier investigating agency and the Jammu and Kashmir Board of Professional Entrance Examinations (BOPEE) for showing laxity in handling the Common Entrance Test, CET-2012 scam.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice Hasnain Masoodi and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey today asked the BOPEE to cancel the admissions of 21 candidates who were fraudulently selected for MBBS course and select the meritorious ones at their place.
The High Court directed the State Government and the concerned officials to take requisite steps without any delay to de-seat the fraud candidates and select the meritorious ones at their place.
The court has asked the BOPEE authorities and officials to step aside and pave way for committed and skilful officers if they are not able to take action against the candidates who were selected fraudulently.
The court said that pace of the investigations conducted by the Crime Branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Police into the scam has slowed down after the filing of charge sheet against the accused.
The High Court in its order said: “The pace of the investigation after the charge sheet has been filed against 22 accused appears to have slowed down. The initial enthusiasm and the alertness shown by the Investigating agency that earned it the appreciation of the court, has started waning. The investigating agency is not to rest on the laurels but pursue the investigation with direction and dedication and make an effort to unravel and lay bare every strand of alleged conspiracy.”
The High Court directed the CB to investigate the case beyond 21 candidates who are the beneficiary of the fraud. “The Investigating agency… shall speed up investigation and make a serious efforts with proper dispatch to unravel the beneficiaries of the fraud other than 21 candidates who are found by the investigating agency to have wrongfully managed their admission with the help of other perpetrators of the crime”, the HC order reads.
The High Court has further directed that after finishing the investigations into CET-2012, the 2011, 2010, 2009 and even the CET exams held before 2009 as it is the tip of an iceberg.
The HC said that it is not satisfied with the list of more candidates Crime Branch is investigating and asked it to file case dairies. The court said that Advocate General stated before the court that 10 more candidates are being investigated and now the Crime Branch has produced the list of only 9 candidates who are under investigation. “We fail to understand 10th candidate being deleted from the list”, the court direction reads.
The Court has directed the Crime Branch to furnish the list of the 9 candidates to BOPEE so that it can act against these in the same way it is acting against the 12 candidates who have been beneficiaries of fraud.
The court has also directed the CB to file a separate charge sheet against the nine candidates who are perusing MBBS and other persons and officials who are involved in the crime.
The court is surprised over the production of only four beneficiaries before the Special Judge Anti-Corruption and has directed that all the accused beneficiaries be produced before the court.
The High Court also directed the Telcom companies to cooperate with the investigating agency and directed the Crime Branch to use their powers under law for getting information from them so as to take ahead the investigations into the case.
The court has also expressed its dis-satisfaction over the suggestions by the Crime Branch that the illegal and disproportionate assets of the accused be handed to Vigilance Organization. The Court has said that it will create confusion and directed the CB to investigate the amount of money that has exchanged hands in the commission of the crime and all assets and money, if raised, should be seized.
The High Court has also termed the status report of the BOPEE as disappointing. The court said that the officers of the BOPEE have failed to appreciate the urgency of the case.
The High Court also rapped BOPEE for proceedings against the 12 candidates at snails’ pace which is leading to delay in compliance of the court order.
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