New Delhi: Ruling with iron-hand against corruption in admissions to MBBS courses in Madhya Pradesh between 2008 and 2012, The Supreme Court cancelled degrees of 634 doctors on Monday saying the admissions obtained through a mass fraud called "Vyapam scam' could not be condoned.
In a thundering 83-page judgment, a bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar and Justices Kurian Joseph and Arun Mishra said: "The action of the appellants are founded on unacceptable behaviour and in complete breach of the rule of law. Their actions, constitute acts of deceit, invading into righteous social order. National character, in our considered view, cannot be sacrificed for benefits - individual or societal."
"If we desire to build a nation, on the touchstone of ethics and character, and if our determined goal is to build a nation where only the rule of law prevails, then we cannot accept the claim of the appellants (students), for suggested societal gains (by allowing them to keep the degrees on the condition of doing social service free of cost for some years)," the bench said.
The court rejected the plea of the students that they were ready to refund the financial gains accrued to them through studies in a highly subsidized MBBS courses in government medical colleges in comparison to the fees that they would have paid had they studied in private medical colleges. They had argued that such a course of action would be good for the society at large.
Writing the unanimous judgment for the three-judge bench, Justice Khehar said: "We have no difficulty whatsoever in concluding in favour of rule of law... Fraud cannot be allowed to trounce, on the stratagem of public good."
All these admissions to MBBS courses between 2008 and 2012, all of whom would have been doctors now, were cancelled by the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board. A bench of Justices J Chelameswar and A M Sapre had found them to be illegal on May 12, 2016.
While Justice Sapre ordered the cancellation of their admissions and annulling of their degrees, Justice Chelameswar had said since the students have completed their course, it would be a national waste to annul the degrees. Instead, Justice Chelameswar allowed them to keep their degrees provided they did some social service for certain period.
Given the split verdict, the matter was placed before a three-judge bench of Chief Justice J S Khehar, and Justices Kurian Joseph and Arun Mishra.
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