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The Supreme Court on Friday transferred all fodder cases against Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Laloo Prasad Yadav to Jharkhand from Bihar, saying the offence had been committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the newly carved-out state.
The three-judge bench comprising Justice K T Thomas, Justice S S M Quadri and Justice U C Banerjee directed the Patna high court to 'forthwith' send to Jharkhand, the trial court documents pertaining to 36 fodder scam cases.
The Court said the evidence already recorded by trial courts in Bihar would be regarded as evidence taken in accordance with the law.
This means, the Court said, the witnesses already examined in the trial courts in Bihar would not be called again by trial courts in Jharkhand.
The Court upheld Solicitor General Harish Salve's contention that as per the State Reorganisation Act, the trial court, within whose local jurisdiction the offence was committed, would alone have the jurisdiction to try the case.
Setting aside the Patna high court order, the bench said, "We, therefore, direct the Registrar of the High Court of Patna to instruct the officers concerned for despatching the records of all these 36 cases, to the corresponding courts at Jharkhand state forthwith. We also direct the Registrar of the high court of Jharkhand to do whatever is needed for reaching such records in the appropriate courts."
The Court also noted that the cases related to a series of orchestrated fraudulent acts by which a staggeringly high amount of public money was plundered or looted after creating fake bills and other false documents, with the active participation or connivance of several high ups in the state administration.
"We are told that the aggregate of the sum plundered in each case exceeds Rs 72 million. The persons arraigned in the cases include men who held high offices, besides the two former chief ministers of Bihar -- Laloo Prasad Yadav and Jagannath Mishra," the bench said.
CBI had said that 64 cases have been registered relating to fodder scam.
Of these, 52 cases involved withdrawal of huge sums from the government treasuries situated in the territories now falling within Jharkhand.
Out of the 52 cases, chargesheets have been filed in 36 cases before the Patna special court before the Jharkhand State came into being.
The Patna high court, dismissing the petition filed by CBI, had ruled that none of the 36 cases could be transferred to Jharkhand.
Appearing for CBI, Solicitor General Harish Salve drew the attention of the Court to Section 89 of the State Reorganisation Act and contended that the fodder scam cases relating to treasuries at Dhanbad, Ranchi and Chaibasa, which fell within the territory of Jharkhand, should be transferred from Patna.
Salve said if similar offences were committed after the creation of Jharkhand, the special court in the new state would have jurisdiction to try the cases and added that after the creation of the new state the courts in Bihar would not have jurisdiction to try these 36 cases.
Appearing for Yadav, senior advocate Kapil Sibal contended that on the facts and circumstances, it could not be said by any stretch of imagination that these cases related exclusively to Jharkhand as acts of the public servant (Yadav) were located in Patna as well as Jharkhand.
Rejecting Sibal's argument, the bench said, "We cannot overlook the main object of Section 89 of the act... The provisions seek to allocate the files or records relating to all proceedings, after the bifurcation, if they were to be instituted after the appointed day."
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