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Court proceedings universally moving towards paperless functioning, providing 4 trunks of documents to accused unreasonable: Delhi Court
The accused had argued in Delhi’s Rouse Avenue Court that he was a senior citizen and was not proficient in dealing with digital documents.
2 min read
The accused had argued that he was a senior citizen and was not proficient in dealing with digital documents. A Delhi court on Friday pulled up the counsel of an accused person who had filed an application before it seeking directions to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to provide physical copies of documents worth 22,000 pages.
“The prospect of supplying the photocopies of 22,000 pages (four trunks) to each of the accused, who are now 100 in number (three have expired), is an unreasonable outcome. More so, when… contemporary court proceedings are universally moving towards paperless functioning,” said Special Judge Vishal Gogne of Rouse Avenue Court.
“In fact, the prayer for the supply of 22,000 pages in physical form operates against speedy and efficient trial,” he added.
The accused had argued that he was a senior citizen and was not proficient in dealing with digital documents.
Special Judge Gogne was hearing the corruption case regarding the alleged transfer of land at cheap rates to former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and his family in return for Group-D substitute jobs in the Indian Railways between 2004 and 2009, when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister.
The CBI in this case is represented by senior advocate and special public prosecutor D P Singh, and advocates Manu Mishra, Garima Saxena, and Imaan Khera.
As per the agency, which has completed its investigation in the case, “the candidates (for Group D jobs) directly or through their relatives/family members, sold land to Lalu Prasad Yadav at highly discounted rates up to 1/4th to 1/5th of the prevailing market rates,” as a quid pro quo. The agency, in one of its charge sheets, alleged that Lalu Prasad’s family acquired over 1 lakh sq ft of land for only Rs 26 lakh (as against the circle rate of over Rs 4.39 crore).
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Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating a money laundering case connected to the ‘land-for-job scam’, stated that a company was incorporated solely to buy land parcels from job seekers. This company owned land worth Rs 1.77 crore and its shares were allegedly transferred to Lalu Prasad’s family for just Rs 1 lakh at Rs 10 per share, it added.
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