No Relief For Lalu Yadav AS SC Refuses To Stay Trial Court Proceedings In Land-For-Jobs Scam
New Delhi, Jul 18 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the trial court proceedings against former Bihar chief minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in the CBI's land-for-jobs case.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh asked the Delhi High Court to expedite hearing on his plea for quashing of the CBI FIR.
The top court also granted exemption from appearance to Yadav before trial court in the case noting his health condition.
"The appeal being against interim order we are not inclined to interfere except by observing that at the time of disposing the final matter the observation made in the impugned order will not stand in the way.
"Considering the fact and circumstances of the case, we are inclined to pass further order to the effect that he may not be personally present and therefore his appearance is dispensed with. We request the High Court to expedite the hearing," the bench said.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the RJD supremo, sought a stay on proceedings saying there was no prior approval obtained by the CBI under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the CBI, countered it saying sanction was not required in the present case.
Sibal sought the stay pointing out no prior approval with the CBI under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act (prior sanction before initiating investigation against public servant).
On May 29, the Delhi High Court said there were no compelling reason to stay the proceedings.
The high court issued notice to the CBI on Yadav's plea for quashing of the agency FIR and posted the hearing on August 12.
The case is related to Group D appointments made in the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during Lalu Prasad's tenure as the railway minister between 2004 and 2009, allegedly in return for land parcels gifted or transferred by the recruits in the name of the RJD supremo's family or associates.
In his petition in the high court, Prasad sought the quashing of the FIR and three chargesheets filed in 2022, 2023 and 2024, and the subsequent orders of cognisance.
The case was registered on May 18, 2022, against Yadav and others, including his wife, two daughters, unidentified public officials and private persons.
The former chief minister said the FIR was lodged in 2022 -- almost a 14-year delay -- despite the CBI's initial enquiries and investigations being closed after filing of closure report before the competent court.
"Initiation of the fresh investigation in the concealment of the previous investigations and its closure reports is nothing but an abuse of the process of law," it said.
The petitioner argued he was being made to suffer through an "illegal, motivated investigation" in violation of his fundamental right to a fair investigation.
"Both, the initiation of the present enquiries and investigations are non est as both have been initiated without a mandatory approval under Section 17A of the PC Act. Without such approval, any enquiry/inquiry/investigation undertaken would be void ab initio," the plea added.
Yadav called it a scenario of "regime revenge and political vendetta" as the initiation of investigation without such approval vitiated the entire proceedings since inception with the being a "jurisdictional error".
(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
india