Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav on Monday urged the Delhi High Court to quash the CBIโs First Information Report (FIR) in the land-for-jobs scam case, contending that it was registered without the mandatory sanction required under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act.
Appearing before Justice Ravinder Dudeja, senior advocate Kapil Sibal argued that the entire CBI probe was โillegalโ as the agency initiated the FIR without prior approval.
โCBI registered the FIR without mandatory sanction under the PC Act. That makes the entire investigation illegal. In the absence of sanction, the investigation could not have begun. Entire proceedings are wrong,โ Sibal submitted.
He maintained that since Yadav was discharging official duties as Railway Minister at the time of the alleged offence, prior sanction was mandatory. โWe are challenging lack of sanction. They could not have initiated the FIR. Investigation cannot start. We are only interested in setting aside the RC,โ he added.
Countering the plea, CBI counsel accused Yadav of deliberately stalling arguments on charge before the trial court. โArguments will be complete tomorrow before trial court. On purpose theyโre not completing their arguments before trial court,โ the counsel said.
The judge observed that the absence of sanction, โeven if accepted, would apply only to offences under the PC Act, not IPC.โ The matter has been listed for further hearing on September 25.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in Group D appointments in the West Central Zone of Indian Railways, Jabalpur, between 2004 and 2009 during Yadavโs tenure as railway minister. The CBI alleges that appointments were made in exchange for land parcels transferred to Yadavโs family or associates.
The FIR, registered on May 18, 2022, names Yadav, his wife, two daughters, unidentified public officials, and private individuals. Yadav, however, has claimed that the case suffers from an inordinate delay of nearly 14 years and ignores earlier closure reports.
In his petition, Yadav termed the probe an โabuse of process of law,โ alleging he was being subjected to a โmotivated investigationโ that violated his fundamental right to a fair trial. He described the FIR as a product of โregime revenge and political vendetta,โ stressing that the initiation of fresh proceedings without mandatory sanction was a โjurisdictional errorโ vitiating the case from inception.
