Ex Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir High Court to oversee return of SRM Medical College seat capitation fees
CHENNAI: Justice N Paul Vasanthakumar, a former Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir High Court, has been appointed as the Advocate-Commissioner (AC) to disburse the amounts to persons who had ‘donated’ them to secure a medical seat in SRM Medical College.As per the list submitted by the investigation officer (IO) on April 3 last, there are 136 such claimants. The initial remuneration for the AC is fixed at Rs 5 lakh.
Justice M S Ramesh made the appointment on Wednesday while passing orders on the criminal original petitions from T R Pachamuthu and Madhan seeking to quash the investigation in a 2016 case pending before the Central Crime Branch, Vepery.The charge against the accused was that they had collected crores of rupees from the aspirants for medical seats but did neither secure the seats nor return the money. While granting bail earlier, the court had imposed a condition as per which Pachamuthu remitted Rs 75 crore with the trial court. Now, Justice Ramesh has shown the green light for its disbursement.
The probe though shall continue and the final report/chargesheet shall be filed within eight weeks. The cash deposit lying before the XI Metropolitan Magistrate, Saidapet, shall be utilised for disbursing the sums to the 136 claimants. It will be open to the AC to determine the amount due to each of the 136 claimants based on satisfactory receipts.
The Saidapet Magistrate shall be present along with the AC during disbursement. It will be open to the AC to fix the date, time and venue for such disbursement. S Radhakrishnan, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Central Crime Branch-II, who is the IO in this case, shall assist the AC, the judge said.
136 claimants for the capitation fee, which the institution tried to pass off as donations