Can?t challenge Lalu?s acquittal in case probed by CBI: SC to Bihar govt

Ruling that a state government is barred from appealing against acquittal in cases investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or any other ?central agency?, the Supreme Court on Thursday held that the Bihar government is incompetent to challenge the acquittal of Lalu Prasad and wife Rabri Devi, both former chief ministers of Bihar, in a disproportionate assets case probed by the CBI.

A three-judge special Bench of Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan and Justices RM Lodha and BS Chauhan agreed with Lalu Prasad and the CBI that the Nitish Kumar government has no right to overrule the ?conscious and considered decision? of the Centre to not appeal against the acquittal of the couple by a Patna CBI court in December 2006.

The 35-page judgment, held that under Section 378 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, only the Centre has the right to appeal an acquittal to the high court in a case investigated by the CBI under the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act, 1946, or by any other agency under any Central Act.

?The Legislature has maintained a mutually exclusive division in the matter of appeal from an order of acquittal inasmuch as the competent authority to appeal in two types of cases (investigation by CBI or a central agency) is the central government and the authority of the state government in relation to such cases has been excluded,? the Bench held.

Both Lalu and the CBI had separately moved the Supreme Court in late 2007 after the Patna High Court gave the Bihar government permission on September 20, 2007 to pursue the case against the couple, despite the CBI evincing no interest to appeal the Special Judge?s verdict of acquittal in the state high court.

The case was handed over to the CBI on the direction of the Patna High Court, which directed the premier investigative agency to ?enquire and scrutinise? all cases of excess withdrawals and expenditure in the state Animal Husbandry Department in the periods between 1977-78 to 1995-96.

Post-investigation, the CBI chargesheeted the Yadavs? illegal acquisition of assets and for possessing property worth Rs 46,26,827 in the name of his wife and children. However, CBI Judge Munni Lal Paswan acquitted them both for lack of evidence.

On February 17, 2007, the Bihar government appealed in the high court, this time arraying the CBI along with the Yadavs on the opposite side. The CBI, in turn, ?supported? the couple both in the high court and later in the apex court.

The Bench held that the state?s appeal against the acquittal in the case was not maintainable as it had exclusively been a ?central investigation?, and the right to appeal against the acquittal solely rests with the central government and not the state.