Lalu Prasad Yadav Moves Delhi High Court to Quash CBI FIR in Land-for-Jobs Case

Former Bihar Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav has approached the Delhi High Court seeking to quash the CBI’s FIR in the land-for-jobs scam. He argued that the case is invalid because no prior sanction was taken under law before filing it.

The matter came up before Justice Ravinder Dudeja. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal represented Yadav, while senior advocate D.P. Singh appeared for the CBI. Since the hearing could not be completed due to shortage of time, the case will be heard again on September 25 at 3:30 PM.

Sibal told the court that the CBI was required to take sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act as Yadav was the Union Railway Minister when the alleged offence took place. Without this approval, he said, the FIR and investigation are unlawful.

The CBI, however, opposed the plea, alleging that Yadav was trying to delay the trial by stretching his arguments. It added that even if the Prevention of Corruption Act does not apply, offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) remain.

The case is linked to allegations that between 2004 and 2009, when Yadav was Railway Minister, land parcels in Patna were transferred to his family in exchange for railway jobs. The CBI claims jobs were given without issuing public notices, procedures were bypassed, and appointments were later regularised.

Earlier, in July 2023, Lalu, his wife Rabri Devi, and son Tejashwi Yadav were granted bail in a related chargesheet filed by the CBI. The agency has already filed two chargesheets in the case under provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The Supreme Court had earlier refused to stay trial proceedings, saying that the Delhi High Court should first deal with the question of quashing the charges. The legality of applying Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act to pre-2018 offences is also pending before a larger bench of the Supreme Court.