The Supreme Court on Monday refused to quash the corruption case registered by the CBI against RJD chief Lalu Prasad over land-for-jobs allegations when he was the railway minister.
Lalu had sought quashing of the FIR on the ground that no prior sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, was obtained by the CBI from the Centre for his prosecution.
Introduced through an amendment in July 2018, Section 17A of the Act states that no inquiry or investigation can be conducted by the police into any offence alleged to have been committed by a public servant without prior approval from the appropriate authority.
A bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and N. Kotiswar Singh said Lalu was free to raise his objections and contentions related to Section 17A before the trial court and also exempted him from appearing before the court in person.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Lalu, said Delhi High Court had erroneously set aside his petition for quashing the FIR by observing that Section 17A would apply prospectively, or after July 2018, while the case was related to the period between 2004 and 2009, when Lalu was the railway minister.
Additional solicitor-general S.V. Raju, appearing for the CBI, argued that Section 17A of the Act could be invoked only if the accused was a decision-making authority. Raju said prior approval for prosecuting Lalu under Section 17A was not required, as he was neither the person who took the decision nor the recommending authority.
However, Justice Sundresh pointed out that it would be difficult for the CBI to sustain such an argument before the trial court as the CBI FIR stated that Lalu had recommended the appointments and also influenced the decision-making process.