SC stays trial of Neera

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the trial of former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Neera Yadav in the Noida land scam case.

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the trial of former Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Neera Yadav in the Noida land scam case.

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The order came from a Bench of Justices K.G. Balakrishnan and D.K. Jain on a Special Leave Petition filed by Yadav challenging an order of the Allahabad High Court. The high court had dismissed her plea to quash the criminal proceedings under the Prevention of Corruption Act for want of sanction from the competent authorities.

Appearing for Yadav, senior counsel Mukul Rohtagi submitted that the issue of sanction was already pending before the court in Rajender Kaur Bhattal's case and that the court should stay the trial till the issue was decided finally.

The court also issued notice to CBI on Yadav's SLP. The court said it would hear her SLP along with those of Bhattal and some others involving the same issue.

The high court had ruled in January that the sanction obtained under the Prevention of Corruption Act was sufficient to initiate prosecution against Yadav and dismissed her petition challenging the criminal proceedings against her.

Yadav and former Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Noida) Rajiv Kumar are charged with misappropriation of funds and irregularities in the allotment of land in Noida by the CBI.