Supreme Court refuses to cancel CBI case against Lalu Yadav in Land-for-Jobs case

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to cancel the CBI FIR and chargesheet against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav in the alleged ‘land-for-jobs’ scam, dealing a legal setback to the former Bihar chief minister.

The top court dismissed Yadav’s plea seeking cancellation of the FIR and related proceedings against him and several members of his family in the case. However, it granted him exemption from personal appearance before the trial court during the proceedings.

The bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh allowed Yadav to raise legal issues, including the applicability of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, before the trial court.

The Supreme Court was hearing Yadav’s plea challenging the CBI’s initiation of a fresh inquiry and investigation in the absence of prior government sanction under Section 17A. The court noted that the issue of whether Section 17A applies prospectively or retrospectively can be raised during trial.

Earlier, on March 24, the Delhi High Court had also refused to cancel the CBI FIR, holding that due process of law had been followed and rejecting Yadav’s contention that the agency’s action was legally unsustainable without prior sanction.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in Group D appointments in the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during Yadav’s tenure as railway minister between 2004 and 2009. It is alleged that jobs were given in exchange for land parcels transferred in the name of his family members or associates.

Yadav had argued that the inquiry, FIR, investigation and subsequent chargesheets were invalid in the absence of mandatory prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

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