Petition against MP Guv in SC: Congress elated, BJP guarded

Bhopal, July 6: Congress today welcomed the Supreme Court move to hear a petition seeking removal of Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav for his alleged involvement in Vyapam scam, while the ruling BJP was guarded in its response saying no politics should be played over the issue.

"Truth will prevail in Vyapam scam and many high dignitaries are going to be unmasked in the scam in days to come. Law of jungle was prevailing in MP," state Congress spokesman K K Mishra told PTI.

However, BJP's media cell in-charge Hitesh Bajpai said that rule of law was prevailing in MP and that his party holds the orders of the apex court and other courts of the country in high esteem.

"We highly respect court orders and directives," Bajpai said. He said that Congress was trying to politicise every issue in Vyapam scam.

"We will aggressively fight the misinformation and the smear campaign of Congress against BJP over the scam," he said.

Efforts to contact Raj Bhawan on the issue proved futile. A Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice H L Dattu and Justices Arun Kumar Mishra and Amitava Roy said that it will hear the petition about the Vyapam scam relating to the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) along with other pleas on the issue on July 9.

The petition, filed by a group of lawyers, has sought removal of Yadav and recording of his statement in the scam in which massive admission to professional courses and recruitment to different government departments were carried out by fraudulent means through MPPEB or Vyapam.

The multi-crore rupees professional examination scam involves several high-profile professionals, politicians and bureaucrats as accused. The alleged scam involves MPPEB, which holds examinations for various posts such as teachers, medical officers, constables and forest guards.

Earlier, the apex court had granted four months more time to the Special Investigation Team (SIT), constituted following a High Court order, to conclude probe into the case.

On May 6, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had quashed an FIR filed against Governor Yadav in connection with the scam, holding that he enjoyed immunity while in office. The quashed FIR against Governor was filed here on February 24 by the Special Task Force (STF) in connection with his alleged complicity in the forest guards recruitment scam conducted by MPPEB.

PTI