Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court quashed a criminal case against a legal counsel of Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) who was accused of having connived with a group of students that managed to get their names in an examination scam through the orders of the High Court. The varsity had alleged that the counsel had appeared without the varsity's approval.
The criminal case was filed by the University official who had claimed that Shivakumar S Badwadagu was representing them without the approval from the legal department. The varsity registrar M R Ravikumar had maintained that Shivakumar who was appointed to handle their cases from 2010 colluded with appellant petitioners in the exam malpractices cases which were lost.
Justice M Nagaprasanna while passing orders reprimanded the varsity officials and as well as the police for registering the case against the advocate. The complaint was filed by the varsity official on July 27 and the FIR was registered within 48 hours. "The Police ought to have enquired with the veracity of allegation before registering a crime against an Advocate without there being any substance in the allegation," the Judge said.
"The role of an officer of the Court and him being sued is what is deprecated. The petitioner being an officer of the Court had a duty towards the Court over and above the duty towards the client, more so being a panel counsel for long years, had a duty to balance the role of being an officer of the Court and the panel counsel," the Court said dismissing the claims of the varsity that the counsel appeared without their approval.
The Court cautioned the University against preferring a criminal complaint in haste without any preliminary enquiry. "The University cannot indulge in such acts of registering crime against the counsel who appears before the Court on its behalf and when the result in the suit or petition goes against the University," the Court said.
"Merely because cases are lost the counsel cannot be alleged of fraud, cheating, impersonation or of other reckless allegations that are made. The University or the Registrar who has now sought to explain out the circumstances, is admonished and is directed to exercise caution while registering such reckless complaints in hottest haste. Any such iteration of the kind of haste, as seen in the case at hand, would be viewed seriously," the Court warned.
