Fodder scam verdict
- Hueiyen Lanpao Editorial :: October 01, 2013 -

It was a surely a long wait, but a worth one.

After 17 years, the long hand of law has finally caught up with all those behind the high profile fodder scam in Bihar.

Becoming the second casualty of the July 10 Supreme Court order that immediately disqualifies Parliamentarians and State Legislators convicted by a law court, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo and former Bihar Chief Minister as well as former Union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad and 44 others including Jagannath Mishra, another former Chief Minister of Bihar and Congress leader; six politicians and four IAS officers, have been convicted by a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) at Ranchi on Monday in the multi-crore fodder scam related to embezzlement of funds meant for the purchase and supply of cattle fodder to farmers using fictitious bills in the name of non-existing companies.

Before them, Rajya Sabha Member Rasheed Masood was convicted earlier this month by yet another special CBI court of nominating undeserving candidates to medical college seats.

The fodder scam was first exposed by Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) through its successive reports for the fiscals 1992-93, 93-94, 94-95 and 95-96.

Even though the CAG reports brought out a series of anomalies, exposing excess withdrawal of funds by the Animal & Husbandry department from the treasuries of Bihar, the then Lalu Prasad Government did not immediately act upon these reports, for reasons, now obvious to all.

Subsequently, in March, 1996, Patna High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe into the alleged irregularities and the Supreme Court upheld the high court order, thus compelling the then Governor of Bihar AR Kidwai to grant the permission of persecution of Lalu Prasad and others in the case on June 17, 1997.

Although the curtain over the high profile trial of the multi-core fodder scam that grabbed nation-wide attention for its scope and brazenness was brought down on Monday morning with judge of the Special CBI court Pravash Kumar Singh holding Lalu and other co-accused 'guilty' in the case, the judgment that has come after a long wait of 17 years is, nonetheless, a very significant one.

Apart from being a defining moment in Indian politics, the judgment, which has send out a strong warning to all the Indian politicians and bureaucrats who are abusing their official position and cheating the people, would be able to restore the faith of the people in the judiciary system of the country.

So, law, after all, is not above anybody.

This message, we feel, is more important that than any signals that might have been given out by the judgment of the special CBI court on the need for reworking on political equation in Bihar or anywhere else in the country, which most political analysts are busy at right now.