New Delhi, July 14 (HS): The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to cancel the bail granted to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief and former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in the fodder scam cases, observing that it would not be appropriate to interfere with his liberty after nearly six years.

A Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale refused to interfere with the Jharkhand High Court's order granting bail but requested the High Court to expedite the hearing of the appeals filed by Lalu Prasad Yadav and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the trial court's judgment, preferably within six months.

We are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order. It will only be appropriate to request the High Court to expedite the hearing of the appeal, preferably within six months, the Bench said while disposing of the matter.

Appearing for the CBI, Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju argued that the High Court had erred in granting bail on the ground that Yadav had completed 50 per cent of his sentence, contending that the calculation of the sentence undergone was incorrect.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, opposed the submissions and argued that the High Court had exercised its judicial discretion while granting bail. He also contended that the provisions relating to concurrent and consecutive sentences would apply only at the stage of final adjudication and not while considering suspension of sentence.

The Supreme Court observed that it was more appropriate to expedite the hearing of the pending appeals than revisit the bail order after several years.

The CBI had challenged the Jharkhand High Court's orders, including the October 2020 order suspending Yadav's sentence in the Chaibasa treasury case involving the fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.62 crore during 1992-93.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar