New Delhi [India], July 30 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to defer the ongoing hearing on the framing of charges by the trial court in the land-for-jobs case against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.
A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh said that the framing of charges will not render the pending High Court petition infructuous.
During the hearing of the case, Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the investigating agency, opposed Yadav's plea.
He also sought imposition of costs on Yadav for filing the application, but the court did not impose any costs.
On July 18, the apex court had refused to stay the trial proceedings in the case while hearing Yadav's petition challenging the Delhi High Court's refusal to stay the trial.
On May 29, the Delhi High Court, while dismissing Yadav's petition for a stay of the trial in the land-for-jobs scam, during his tenure as railways minister from 2004 to 2009, had said that there was no compelling reason to stay the proceedings.
While refusing to stay the trial court's proceedings, the High Court had issued notice to the CBI on Yadav's plea for quashing of the CBI FIR and posted the hearing on August 12.
On May 18, 2022, the CBI had registered a case alleging that between 2004 and 2009, Yadav had allegedly exploited his ministerial position to secure land transfers for his family in exchange for Group "D" railway jobs.
The CBI had alleged these appointments were made without any public job advertisements and that senior officials in the West Central Railways facilitated these appointments under Yadav's direction.
According to the CBI, these appointments did not align with the Indian Railways' established standards and guidelines for recruitment.
On June 7, the CBI filed a detailed charge sheet against Yadav, his family members, and 77 other persons, including 38 job seekers.