Supreme Court pulls up Patna high court in Laloo case

The Supreme Court on Thursday took a serious view of the role played by the Patna high court following the Central Bureau of Investigation's request for army help in arresting former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in the Rs 9.5 billion fodder scam. The apex court has decided to examine the issue itself.

The court's decision was announced by Chief Justice J S Verma who is heading a division bench hearing the Centre's special leave petition against the high court's August 29 order.

Stating that CBI Director R C Sharma had committed contempt of court by submitting the Durai Committee report on the controversy directly to the Union home ministry, the order directed the agency chief to file an explanation by Friday, September 12 -- the next day of hearing.

The apex court also stayed further proceedings in the case.

The other judge on the bench was Justice S P Bharucha.

The court will examine how far CBI Joint Director U N Biswas was justified in approaching the high court at an unearthly hour regarding Laloo Yadav's arrest. It will also go into the legality of the high court's decision to allow Biswas to seek army help in this regard.

The Centre's real grievance -- allowing army help -- has not been brought out clearly in the special leave petition, the court said. ''The petition can be amended in two days.''

Earlier, Attorney General Ashok Desai submitted that there was no justification for the high court to monitor the case as the chargesheets had been filed.

When the attorney general pointed out that Biswas had written to the army seeking help to arrest Laloo Yadav, the chief justice observed that there were too many people bitten by the publicity bug. ''In such a situation, it would be appropriate that we ourselves examine the matter here itself,'' the chief justice announced.

UNI

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