The Supreme Court of India said on Monday it would not kill the Central Bureau of Investigation case against Lalu Prasad Yadav in the so-called land-for-jobs scam saying that complaints of an objection to the case can be raised during the trial itself.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh refused to act at this point giving Yadav the freedom to argue on prior sanction at the trial court. The court stressed that these legal problems are not to hamper the development of the case. The bench in its order provided freedom to the petitioner to bring about the legal issue during the trial time.
The case was mainly with regards to Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act that requires prior permission before an inquiry into decisions made by a public servant when acting in the line of duty is to be conducted. The argument in the plea of Yadav was that since there was no such sanction, there were no proceedings that the CBI could initiate.
But the Supreme Court made clear that the question that whether the case should be sanctioned can be considered in the course of the trial itself and does not justify a pre-emptive quashing of the case. The decision practically permits the trial to proceed immediately.
This ruling is a major milestone in the high profile case, which strengthens its position by the judiciary that procedural objections must not be employed to delay investigations or judicial hearings in the initial stages.