Lalu Prasad, Rabri Devi

New Delhi, Dec. 6: The Supreme Court today dismissed petitions by railway minister Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi who had challenged the validity of a go-ahead to prosecute them in corruption cases.

A bench headed by Justice Arijit Pasayat also rejected pleas by former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family who sought quashing of cases against them for amassing property worth crores of rupees.

The bench disposed of petitions by Lalu Prasad, Badal and another former chief minister, Kerala’s K. Karunakaran, that raised questions on grant of sanction for prosecuting politicians with or without portfolios. The court sent back the matter pertaining to Karunakaran to the high court.

Lalu Prasad had moved the apex court against a Patna High Court judgment that upheld his prosecution on the basis of the sanction given by the Bihar governor in March 2000. He contended that the sanction would have been relevant if he was still chief minister on the day the offence was taken cognisance of. But he was only an MLA when the CBI filed a chargesheet against him in April 2000.

The former chief minister, who stepped down in the wake of the fodder scam allegations to pave the way for his wife’s ascension, had argued that permission or sanction by a Speaker was a must to prosecute a sitting member of the Assembly.

The apex court rejected it, saying what was important was the date on which the offence was committed, not the date of taking cognisance.

The court said no separate sanction was obtained to prosecute his wife as she was not a public servant during the relevant period.