The High Court noted that Yadav still had a full opportunity to present his case before the trial court.
NEW DELHI: 31st May: On Saturday, the Delhi High Court rejected RJD leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav’s request to stay the ongoing trial court proceedings in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s land-for-jobs scam case.
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Lalu Prasad Yadav had approached the High Court seeking a stay on the trial, but the bench declined his plea, pointing out that the matter was already scheduled for argument on the framing of charges before the Special Judge.
The High Court noted that Yadav still had a full opportunity to present his case before the trial court.
In its order, the court said, “This would be rather an added opportunity for the petitioner to put forth his point and get the same adjudicated.”
Observing that there were no “compelling reasons” to interfere at this stage, the High Court refused to stall the trial court proceedings.
Earlier, Yadav had also requested the Delhi High Court to cancel the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the CBI in connection with the scam. His legal team, led by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, argued that the CBI had continued the investigation without taking the mandatory government sanction to prosecute him.
Sibal strongly questioned the legality of the proceedings, stating, “Why should I go to the trial court and argue on charge? Cognisance itself is bad.”
He argued that the FIR was without merit and that there was no basis for initiating the criminal case.
The senior lawyer further pointed out that no FIR had been registered during the time when the alleged events took place—between 2004 and 2009. He also emphasized that a closure report had already been filed in the matter, questioning the legitimacy of the fresh FIR lodged in 2020.
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However, the CBI stood firm in its response. The investigating agency argued that the trial court was the correct place for all such legal issues to be addressed.
The CBI said, “It’s a case where public servants were told by people of the minister to do these selections, land was taken, and that’s why it’s called the land-for-job scam.”
On May 9, the President of India gave formal approval to prosecute Lalu Prasad Yadav in connection with the money laundering case arising out of the land-for-jobs scam. This sanction was issued under Section 197(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (or Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023). It is a legal requirement to obtain such sanction when proceeding against a former minister.
The land-for-jobs scam relates to allegations that Lalu Prasad Yadav, during his tenure as the Union Railway Minister, accepted parcels of land from job aspirants in exchange for appointing them to Group D posts in the Indian Railways.
CASE TITLE: SHRI LALU PRASAD YADAV v. CENTRAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
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