SC refuses to quash CBI FIR, chargesheet against Lalu Prasad Yadav in land-for-jobs case

Supreme Court of India refused to quash the CBI FIR against Lalu Prasad Yadav in the land-for-jobs case, granting him exemption from court appearance while allowing legal challenge under the Prevention of Corruption Act

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to quash a CBI FIR in the land-for-jobs case involving RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members.

A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh, however, granted exemption to the 77-year-old former Bihar chief minister from appearance before the trial court during the proceedings.

---

The top court allowed Yadav to raise the issue of the applicability of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act in the case.

The Delhi High Court had on March 24 refused to quash a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR in the case involving Yadav and his family members, rejecting the RJD chief’s contention that the agency’s action was legally unsustainable in the absence of prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The land-for-jobs case is related to Group D appointments made in the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, during Yadav’s tenure as the railways minister between 2004 and 2009, allegedly in return for land parcels gifted or transferred by the recruits in the name of his family members or associates, officials said.

Yadav had contended that the inquiry, FIR, as well as the investigation and subsequent chargesheets in the matter, were legally unsustainable in the absence of prior sanction taken by the CBI under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.