The Supreme Court on Friday stayed an order of the Delhi High Court ordering Lokpal India to grant sanction within two months to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to file a chargesheet against Trinamool (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra for allegedly accepting money and favors for asking questions in Parliament.
The order was passed on a petition filed by the Lokpal of India challenging two orders of the HC – one on December 19, 2025, directing it to grant the penalty within a month, followed by another order on January 23 extending this time by two months.
A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and Justice Joymalia Bagchi said: “The Supreme Court’s January 23 order will remain in abeyance… At the same time, Lokpal India does not have to comply with Section 89 of the December 19 judgment of the Delhi High Court.”
“The Lokpal is requested to consider award of penalty under Section 20 of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013, in strict accordance with its provisions as stated above, within a period of one month from today,” the Supreme Court ruling said.
Lokpal, represented by senior advocate Ranjit Kumar and advocate Nishant Katneshwarkar, said her appeal only seeks to settle the law, procedure and manner in which the Lokpal should conduct themselves. “We need an official announcement to enable us to know the procedure to be followed under the Lokpal Act, 2013. We are not here for one or two people but to interpret certain sections of the law,” Kumar said.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, informed the court that he supports the Supreme Court’s order regarding the interpretation of the law, as the defendant needs to investigate.
Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December 2023 on the recommendation of the Ethics Committee for allegedly giving her official identity to Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani for posting questions on the Lok Sabha portal. She is accused of receiving expensive gifts and funding for trips abroad in return. Hiranandani has confirmed these accusations. Moitra, who was re-elected to the Lok Sabha in 2024, has denied the accusations.
In October 2023, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on the complaint of lawyer Jay Anant Dehadhari, who alleged that Moitra accepted money and favors for asking questions in Parliament. In the same month, he approached Lokpal regarding the “cash payment for inquiry” charge against Moitra.
Moitra was represented in the Supreme Court by senior advocate Nidhesh Gupta, while the complainant Dubey was not represented in the court.
The bench noted that the interpretation of the Lokpal Act had come before the court for the first time and issued a notice to Moitra along with the CBI and the complainant – BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who had complained against Moitra.
“The Lokpal Act is a law to ensure and isolate investigation and filing of cases against public servants in high places where there is a palpable fear that they may obstruct investigating agencies from conducting a fair investigation,” the bench said.
The court admitted that “apparently, the provisions of filing indictment and conducting prosecution overlap and the Supreme Court appears to have given a purposive interpretation of two provisions. We agree prima facie that it is a wrong interpretation of Section 20(7) and 20(8) of the Act.”
The petition filed by the Lokpal said: “The Supreme Court did not consider the interplay between Sections 12, 20, 23, 25 and 56 of the Lokpal Act in its proper perspective. The HC erred in coming to the conclusion that punishment under Section (20)(7)(a) means punishment of prosecution.”
It further said: “The Supreme Court ruling, if allowed to stand, will have far-reaching consequences. It will enable the accused to stall corruption prosecutions at the doorstep by inviting the judicial tribunals to conduct mini-trials at the first penalty stage, thereby frustrating the objective of the Lokpal Act and eroding public confidence in anti-corruption institutions.”
Lokpal also questioned the HC’s judgment for not issuing any notice to it before issuing the order and hearing only the CBI, the agency appointed by Lokpal to conduct the investigation.
On November 12, 2025, the Lokpal granted the CBI the sanction of filing a chargesheet within four weeks and directed that a copy be furnished to the Lokpal. Moitra has appealed this order in the Supreme Court.
The December 19 ruling quashed the Lokpal order, observing that the measure it adopted amounted to a form of legal ingenuity or re-engineering of the 2013 law and was “totally foreign to the scheme” of the law. In March 2024, Lokpal ordered the CBI to file an FIR against her, saying there was “sufficient prima facie evidence on record to merit deeper scrutiny”.
