An acute shortage of medical colleges has helped flourish an admission racket that has spread far and wide. An ongoing investigation suggests that even HC judges and senior IAS officers may be actively participating in this racket for monetary and other considerations. The Supreme Court and investigative agencies are said to have started examining the role of sitting and retired judges of HCs in enabling private medical colleges to admit students to MBBS courses despite the apex court's order to the contrary. Further, investigating agencies have lodged a FIR against two IAS officers serving in Puducherry. Former health secretary B R Babu and Narendra Kumar, who headed the committee overseeing admissions into medical colleges are suspected of denying admissions to deserving students and selling seats to others at "exorbitant" rates. The conduct of two judges of the Allahabad high court -Justices S N Shukla and Virendra Kumar -is also under the scanner for permitting a private medical college to admit students against the apex court's categorical order that no HC would allow any college to admit MBBS students for the academic year 2017-18. Chief Justice Dipak Misra is said to have ordered an inquiry into the matter. The malaise in medical education was also brought out starkly on September 20 when CBI registered a corruption case against a retired Orissa HC judge, Ishrat Masroor Quddusi, and five others for allegedly conspiring to scuttle a Medical Council of India order debarring a private medical college from MBBS admissions.