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Education LawSupreme Court of India

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University v. Union of India

Writ Petition (Civil) · 2019 INSC 57Decided 17 Jan 2019
Writ Petition (Civil) No. 1001 of 2017
Justice S.A. Bobde · Justice L. Nageswara Rao · Justice R. Subhash Reddy

Background

R.K.D.F. Medical College, run by the petitioner university, had repeatedly failed inspections by the Medical Council of India (MCI) for admitting successive batches of MBBS students, with earlier admissions reaching the Supreme Court multiple times through separate orders. When the College's most recent batch of admissions was also cancelled over inspection deficiencies, the College petitioned the Court, and the Court appointed a special committee (headed by a CBI officer with AIIMS doctors) to verify the College's claims.

Decision Breakdown

The committee's investigation found that the College had fabricated patient and faculty records to project false compliance, including patients who could not be located or verified, a wiped hard disk withheld from investigators, and a false claim that faculty members were unavailable due to a police matter that the police denied ever existed. The Supreme Court held that the College had committed fraud on the Court itself to obtain favourable orders. It dismissed the writ petitions, barred the College from admissions for two academic years, imposed a Rs. 5 crore penalty, and directed prosecution of the College's Dean for perjury under Section 193 IPC, while ordering refunds and compensation for the displaced students who had been admitted in good faith.

Lesson Learnt

Fabricating evidence to mislead a court, even an institution as significant as a medical college, can result in severe consequences: heavy financial penalties, criminal prosecution of responsible officials, and multi-year bans, regardless of any relief initially obtained through the deception.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University v. Union of India – Legal Case Shots | LegalAware