The Supreme Court on Friday declined to provide relief to Lalu Prasad Yadav in Land-for-jobs scam case. The apex court dismissed Yadav’s plea seeking pause on the proceedings and refused to stay the FIR against him. The SC has directed the matter to the Delhi High Court.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh was hearing Yadav’s plea, which challenged the High Court’s earlier refusal to pause the trial. The bench said that since the main case is still being heard in the High Court, there is no need for the Supreme Court to get involved at this point.
Justice Sundresh, said they would not keep the matter pending and that the appeal would be dismissed, allowing the High Court to decide on the main issue.
However, the bench also made it clear that Lalu Yadav does not have to be physically present during the trial. It further requested the Delhi High Court to speed up its decision on Yadav’s petition, which questions the lower court’s move to begin the trial.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal was representing Lalu Yadav, while Additional Solicitor General SV Raju represented the CBI. Sibal argued that the CBI had not taken the necessary approval under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act before starting its investigation. He pointed out that although the law requires prior approval before investigating a public servant, no such approval was taken in Yadav’s case. Sibal said the FIR was filed in 2021, even though Yadav served as a minister from 2005 to 2009, and that a probe cannot start without permission.
The CBI, however, disagreed. ASG Raju told the court that the law requiring prior approval was added only in 2018, after the alleged offences took place. He said that in this case, such approval was not needed. The SC further added that it would not comment on these legal arguments at this stage and left it to the High Court to look into them.