Click to play videoNew Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday declined to cancel bail of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad and his wife, former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi in a disproportionate assets case.
The apex court also dismissed two Public Interest Litigations challenging the appointment of a special judge to try the case.
The three-member bench of the court by a majority verdict of 2:1 dismissed the two PILs filed by senior BJP leader
Sushil Kumar Modi and JD(U) leader Rajeev Ranjan Singh 'Lallan', in which they have also challenged the quashing of income tax cases against the Railway Minister and his wife.
The majority judgement delivered by Justice K G Balakrishnan and A R Lakshmanan said that the PIL was not
maintainable.
In a dissenting judgement, Justice S H Kapadia said that the PIL was maintainable.
Justice Kapadia said that the Income Tax (IT) Department should have filed an appeal against the IT Appellate Tribunal
order and he also said that the procedure adopted for the appointment of Additional District Judge Munni Lal Paswan as Special Judge to try disproportionate assets case was not
proper.
The judgement was pronounced separately by the three
judges.
Justice Balakrishnan said that there was no irregularity in the Income Tax Appelette Tribunal order.
There was no illegality in the appointment of Additional District Judge Munnilal Paswan as the Special Judge to try the case, he said.
Allegations levelled against Paswan were not true, the judge said.
"This question of appointment of the judge cannot be gone into by this court," Justice Balakrishnan said adding that the issue was under the jurisdiction of the High Court.
He declined the prayer of the petitioners that the trial should be conducted by the prosecutor who had been associated with the case for a decade since it started.
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