Land-for-jobs scam case: SC refuses to quash CBI FIR, chargesheet against Lalu Prasad Yadav

The top court permitted Lalu Prasad Yadav to raise the issue of applicability of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act during the trial. Representational Pic/File

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to quash the CBI FIR in the alleged land-for-jobs case involving Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family members, reported the PTI.

A bench comprising Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh granted the 77-year-old former Bihar chief minister exemption from appearing before the trial court during the proceedings, the news agency reported.

The top court permitted Yadav to raise the issue of applicability of Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act during the trial.

Yadav has argued that the investigation, FIR and subsequent chargesheets are invalid due to the absence of prior sanction required under this provision, according to the PTI.

Delhi High Court's earlier ruling

The Delhi High Court had earlier, on March 24, refused to quash the FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The High Court rejected Yadav's claim that the case lacked legal basis without prior approval under Section 17A of the anti-corruption law.

While filing the petition in the Delhi High Court, Lalu Yadav has sought the quashing of the FIR as well as the three chargesheets filed in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and the consequential orders of cognisance, the news agency had earlier reported.

In his petition, he contended that the enquiry, FIR, as well as the investigation and subsequent chargesheets in the matter, were legally unsustainable in the absence of the prior sanction taken by CBI, as is mandatory under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, as per the PTI.

The case

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 had earlier 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.

(with PTI inputs)