The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to cancel the bail granted to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam cases, holding that it would not be appropriate to interfere with his liberty after six years. Instead, the court directed that the pending criminal appeals be expedited and requested the Jharkhand High Court to decide them, preferably within six months.
A bench of justices MM Sundresh and Prasanna B Varale dismissed the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) challenge to the Jharkhand High Court orders suspending Yadav’s sentence and granting him bail, observing that the passage of time since the grant of bail weighed against disturbing the arrangement.
“We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order since several years have passed since the impugned order,” the bench said. Noting that the criminal appeals have been pending since 2018, it added: “It will only be appropriate to request the high court to expedite the appeal and decide it preferably within six months.”
During the hearing, additional solicitor general SV Raju, appearing for the CBI, argued that the high court had erred in calculating the period of imprisonment undergone by Yadav. “The calculation by the judge is wrong. He had to undergo sentences consecutively, and therefore the trial court is wrong when it says he has undergone half the sentence,” Raju submitted.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, countered that Section 427 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, dealing with concurrent and consecutive running of sentences, would apply only at the stage of final adjudication and not while considering interim suspension of sentence.
The bench then indicated that it was more inclined to fast-track the appeals than revisit the bail order. “We will have to expedite the trial. What do you have to say if we expedite the appeal? We may not interfere with the order impugned,” it observed. Sibal responded that he would not oppose such a course. “I cannot come in the way of the court if it wishes to pass such an order.”
The order is in line with the bench’s indication during an earlier hearing in February that it was disinclined to cancel Yadav’s bail and would instead prioritise the final hearing of the pending appeals.
The CBI has challenged the Jharkhand High Court’s orders, including one passed in October 2020, suspending Yadav’s sentence in the Chaibasa treasury case involving fraudulent withdrawal of ₹37.62 crore during 1992-93. The agency has consistently argued that the high court wrongly applied the “half-sentence” principle while granting bail.
According to the CBI, the trial court had directed that the sentences imposed on Yadav in different fodder scam cases should run consecutively rather than concurrently. On that interpretation, his cumulative sentence would be around 14 years, and he would not have completed half the sentence required for suspension of sentence when bail was granted.
Yadav has disputed that interpretation, maintaining that the CBI’s reading of the law is erroneous and that courts have consistently treated custody undergone for offences under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act as operating concurrently for the purpose of considering suspension of sentence. He has also relied on his age and medical condition, including a kidney transplant in 2022, to oppose the cancellation of bail.
The 77-year-old RJD leader has been convicted in five fodder scam cases relating to fraudulent withdrawals from the Chaibasa, Deoghar, Dumka and Doranda treasuries during his tenure as Bihar chief minister. The multi-crore fodder scam comprises 55 cases involving alleged fraudulent withdrawals of around ₹950 crore from the undivided Bihar treasury between 1992 and 1995 through fake bills for fodder, medicines and equipment.