New Delhi, Jul 24 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved order on whether or not to defer the trial court proceedings against former Bihar chief minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members in the CBI’s land-for-jobs case.
Justices Ravinder Dedeja was informed by Yadav’s counsel that a plea before the high court to quash the the FIR on the ground of lack of requisite sanctions to prosecute the former railway minister was scheduled to be heard on August 12.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, also sought an early hearing of the petition before the high court.
The trial court fixed the arguments on charge on behalf of Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, and daughters Misha Bharti and Hema Yadav, from July 26.
“Let trial court hear my arguments on charge after this petition before HC is decided,” Sibal said.
Senior advocate Maninder Singh, also representing Lalu Yadav, said if the trial court hears the arguments on charge before the high court decides the present application, the plea in the high court would become infructuous.
The Supreme Court on July 18 refused to stay the trial court proceedings.
On May 29, the 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 — after an almost 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 (void from the beginning),” 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”. PTI UK UK AMK AMK
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