Patna, (Bihar Times): In a rare development the Acting
Chief Justice of Patna High Court, C K Prasad, on
Wednesday directed the Bihar government to stop
payment of full pension to Muni Lal Paswan, the former
special CBI judge who acquitted railway minister Lalu
Yadav and his spouse, Rabri Devi, on the charge of
judicial misconduct pending departmental proceedings.
It was on December 18, 2006 that Paswan, as the
special CBI judge, acquitted Lalu Prasad and Rabri
Devi in a disproportionate assets case.
The high court directed the state government to
withhold payment of full pension to Paswan on the
recommendation of the Standing Committee of the High
Court last week after preliminary inquiries into the
charges levelled against him were prima facie found to
be true by Patna district judge as also the inspecting
HC judge for the district.
According to the advocate general P K Shahi the state
government has no option but to honour the High Court
directive. “The government has to accept the order
unless there are sufficient reasons on the
contrary.In this case, no such reasons apparently
exist,” Shahi told a news agency.
Paswan would be entitled to 90 per cent of his pension
amount pending disposal of departmental proceedings
against him under clause 43(B) of Bihar Pension Rules
applicable to all former state government employees.
The inspecting judge of the High Court for Patna
district Shivkirti Singh had found Paswan guilty of“judicial misconduct” in granting bail in two cases
related to alleged rape and threats for transfer of
land. FIR in both cases were registered in 2006.
