The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to cancel the bail granted to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam cases, saying it would not be appropriate to interfere with his freedom after six years. Instead, the court ordered that the pending criminal appeals be expedited and asked the Jharkhand High Court to decide them, preferably within six months.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Prasanna P Varali dismissed the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) challenge to the Jharkhand High Court’s orders suspending Yadav’s sentence and granting him bail, stating that the passage of time since the grant of bail had a significant impact in not disturbing the arrangement.
“We are not inclined to interfere in the impugned order as several years have passed since the impugned order,” the bench said. Noting that criminal appeals had been pending since 2018, she added: “It would only be appropriate for us to ask the Supreme Court to expedite and decide the appeal, preferably within six months.”
During the hearing, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the CBI, said the Supreme Court had erred in calculating the jail term Yadav had served. “The judge’s calculations are wrong. He had to undergo consecutive sentences, so the trial court is wrong when it says he has served half the sentence,” Raju added.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Yadav, responded that Section 427 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which deals with concurrent and consecutive execution of sentences, would apply only at the final sentencing stage and not while considering interim suspension of sentence.
The bench then indicated that it was inclined to expedite the appeal procedure rather than reconsider the bail order. “We will have to speed up the trial. What do you have to say if we speed up the appeal? We are not permitted to interfere with the contested matter.” Sibal responded that he would not oppose such a course. “I cannot get in the way of the court if it wishes to make such an order.”
The order is in line with the bench indicating during an earlier hearing in February that it was not willing to cancel Yadav’s bail and would instead prioritize the final hearing of pending appeals.
The CBI has challenged the orders of the Jharkhand High Court, including the October 2020 order suspending Yadav’s sentence in the Chibasa treasury case involving fraudulent withdrawal of funds. $37.62 crores during the period 1992-93. The agency has consistently argued that the Supreme Court wrongly applied the “half sentence” principle while granting bail.
According to the CBI, the trial court directed that the sentences imposed on Yadav in various fodder scam cases should be served consecutively and not concurrently. On this interpretation, his total sentence would be approximately 14 years, and he would not have completed half the sentence required for suspension of sentence when bail is granted.
Yadav has disputed this interpretation, asserting that the CBI’s reading of the law is wrong and that courts have consistently treated subject detention for offenses under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act as running concurrently for the purpose of considering suspension of sentence. He also relied on his age and medical condition, including a kidney transplant in 2022, to oppose the bail revocation.
The 77-year-old RJD leader was convicted in five fodder scam cases related to fraudulent withdrawals from Chaibasa, Deogarh, Dumka and Duranda coffers during his tenure as Bihar chief minister. The multi-crore fodder scam involves 55 cases involving alleged fraudulent withdrawals of approx $950 crore from the exchequer of undivided Bihar between 1992 and 1995 through fictitious bills for fodder, medicines and equipment.
