The division bench comprising Justice PV Sanjay Kumar and Justice Augustine George Masih found this unsatisfactory. The bench noted that there was a collective effort to present these nursing colleges as functioning normally, which was misleading.
![[ Nursing College Scam Case] SC Orders CBI Reinvestigation of 169 MP Nursing Colleges](https://i0.wp.com/lawchakra.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image-6-1.png?resize=820%2C461&ssl=1)
NEW DELHI: On Friday (14th June): The Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which had ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to reinvestigate 169 nursing colleges alleged to be operating fraudulently.
Previously, the CBI had exonerated all the colleges, but the division bench comprising Justice PV Sanjay Kumar and Justice Augustine George Masih found this unsatisfactory. The bench noted that there was a collective effort to present these nursing colleges as functioning normally, which was misleading.
“You all clearly tried to put up a facade that everything was functioning normally,” Justice Kumar remarked to the counsels representing the appellant-colleges.
Consequently, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeals against the High Court’s order. However, it clarified that this dismissal does not prevent the concerned parties from raising pertinent issues before the High Court in ongoing proceedings.
On May 30, the High Court mandated a CBI re-investigation after the Law Students Association, one of the original petitioners, reported that some CBI officers had allegedly accepted bribes from the suspect colleges for issuing favorable reports.
In February, the CBI cleared 169 nursing colleges of wrongdoing. In light of the bribery allegations, the High Court directed that a judicial officer, specifically the Registrar of the District Court of the respective districts, be included in the CBI team for the inspections.
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The court also suggested that videography might be utilized during the investigation, which is to be completed within three months.
The nursing colleges then appealed to the Supreme Court against this order. Senior Counsels Meenakshi Arora, Maninder Singh, and M. Shoeb Alam represented the nursing colleges before the apex court.
Case Title: VNS College of Nursing and Another v. State of Madhya Pradesh and Others
