The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court's 2019 order suspending the sentence of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the Deoghar treasury fodder scam case. However, it requested the High Court to dispose of his pending criminal appeal within six months.
A bench comprising Justice MM Sundresh and Justice PB Varale observed that nearly seven years had elapsed since the High Court suspended Yadav's sentence and found no justification to interfere at this stage. The bench also noted that the criminal appeal has remained pending since 2018 and should now be heard expeditiously.
"Upon hearing the learned counsels, we are not inclined to interfere with the order particularly since seven years have elapsed since then. The appeals are of the year 2018 and therefore it will only be appropriate to request the High Court to expedite the hearing," the bench observed, according to Live Law.
The State of Jharkhand had challenged the High Court's July 12, 2019 order, contending that Yadav had been granted suspension of sentence based on an erroneous calculation that he had completed 50 per cent of his jail term. Appearing for the State, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju argued that the sentences awarded to Yadav in multiple fodder scam cases should run consecutively under Section 427 of the Code of Criminal Procedure unless a court specifically orders otherwise. He submitted that the High Court's computation of the sentence was therefore legally incorrect.
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Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Lalu Prasad Yadav, opposed the State's plea, arguing that the issue of whether the sentences should run concurrently or consecutively ought to be decided during the final hearing of the appeal. He also submitted that the High Court had consistently granted suspension of sentence to convicts who had completed half of their prison term and had exercised its discretion in Yadav's case on the same basis.
Taking note of the prolonged delay in deciding the appeal, the Supreme Court declined to set aside the High Court's order suspending Yadav's sentence and instead directed that the pending criminal appeal be heard and decided within six months.
Lalu Prasad Yadav was convicted by a CBI court in the Deoghar treasury fodder scam case and sentenced to three-and-a-half years' imprisonment under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Jharkhand High Court had granted him bail in 2019 after holding that he had served more than half of his sentence. It also observed that similarly placed co-convicts had been granted the same relief. The High Court further ruled that the Supreme Court's earlier dismissal of a Special Leave Petition against the rejection of bail was a non-speaking order and therefore did not prevent it from entertaining a fresh bail plea based on changed circumstances.
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