Fodder scam cases: transfer plea rejected

By Our Staff Correspondent

PATNA, MAY 4. The Patna High Court by a majority decision today dismissed the petition of the CBI for transfer of 36 cases relating to the fodder scam to Jharkhand and maintained that their trial would proceed as earlier in Patna itself.

By a two to one majority, the court rejected the CBI's contention that the cases exclusively related to Jharkhand and ruled that the same did not come under the purview of the Bihar Reorganisation Act under which the new State of Jharkhand was carved out. The Patna High Court maintained that the trial in these cases would proceed in Patna itself.

Hearing on the CBI's petition was completed on Feb. 27 and the full bench reserved its judgment which was delivered today. Mr. Justice Aftab Alam delivered the main ruling with which Mr. Justice Sheo Kirti Singh concurred.

However, Mr. Justice Nagendra Jha, in his dissenting note, partially agreed with the principal ruling justifying trial in 13 cases in Patna but maintained that the trial in other 23 cases should be transferred to Ranchi.

Mr. Justice Alam, however, clarified that the judgment related to only those 36 cases in which trial had already started and that the order was not applicable to cases which were under investigation or those in which charge sheets had not been filed.

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Section  : Other States
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