NEW DELHI: RJD supremo and Bihar’s former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has moved to the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court‘s dismissal of his plea seeking a stay on proceedings in the land-for-job case.The Delhi High Court on 29th May had said there were no compelling reasons to stay the proceedings. It further issued a notice to the CBI on his plea for quashing FIR. The case is scheduled for hearing on August 12.The case goes back to Lalu’s tenure as railway minister between 2004 and 2009, when he allegedly made Group D appointments in the West Central Zone of the Indian Railways based in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, in return for land. Besides Lalu, the accused include his wife, their two daughters, and unknown officials.In his plea, Lalu has said that the FIR was filed in 2022, 2023, and 2024, with a delay of 14 years after the alleged scam. He further said that CBI’s initial inquiries and investigation were closed, and the closure report had been filed. The petitioner further called the investigation “illegally motivated” and “a political vendetta.”It further said, “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.” A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh in the Supreme Court are likely hear the matter on July 18.
