Patna High Court dismisses PIL against Lalu Prasad Yadav

PATNA: The Patna High Court on Thursday dismissed the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) challenging Lalu Prasad Yadav's continuance as Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President after his conviction in a fodder scam case.

The PIL was filed by RJD rebel MLA Samrat Chaudhary on May 1 citing the party's constitution where it was mentioned that a convicted person could not be its president.

Hearing the case, the High Court bench of Justice Navin Sinha and Justice PK Jha asked Chaudhary's lawyer SPK Mangalam why such haste was shown in filing the PIL when the rebel MLA had petitioned the Election Commission on April 14, and the Commission was yet to decide on it.

The lawyer failed to provide a satisfactory answer to the court and requested permission to withdraw the case. The judges then ordered it 'dismissed as withdrawn'.

Earlier, while filing the case, Chaudhary and his lawyer had argued that as per rule No 21 of RJD constitution, a convicted person loses the primary membership of the party and thus Prasad was unfit to hold the president's post.

Samrat Chaudhary, who led a defection of 13 MLAs in February this year, and his father Shakuni Chaudhary had been suspended by RJD for anti-party activities.