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5. In these writ petitions, the petitioners have prayed mainly four reliefs. The first relief prayed is to issue an appropriate writ, order or direction monitoring the conduct of the trials relating to fodder scam cases proceedings against respondent Nos. 4 and 6 in the State of Bihar and State of Jharkhand. The second prayer is to appoint the very same prosecutor who had been conducting prosecution earlier and to direct the High Court to see that no prosecutor or CBI officer attached with the investigation and trial of the case should be removed, harassed or victimized for discharging their duties. The petitioners have also prayed that at least one Inspector be provided for each fodder case. The petitioners have also prayed for cancellation of bail granted to respondent Nos. 4 and 5. Petitioners have further prayed for a direction to respondents I to 3 to file an appeal against the orders passed by the Tribunal.

5. Mr. Mukul Rohatgi and Mr. Kailash Vasudev, learned senior counsel made elaborate submissions on the question of maintainability of the writ petitions and also submitted that Mr. Munni Lal Paswan was promoted recently and posted at Patna for disposing of the case filed against respondent Nos. 4 and 5 and that the said Munni Lal Paswan is not a desirable person to be posted in the said post to conduct the case. He also requested that the public prosecutors who were proving to be inconvenient to respondent Nos. 4 and 5 are being supplanted with chosen ones. Like that, Member (Judicial) in the Tribunal-Mr. D.K. Tyagi who had been hearing the appeal of respondent Nos. 4 and 5 was curiously sent on deputation and was replaced by Mr. Mohanarajan, a person who was on the verge of retire'ment to head the Tribunal. Within 2 weeks, the matter was heard and allowed in favour of the assessees. He also submitted that the case relating to disproportionate assets before the Special Judge, CBI is at the final stage of hearing. The Director, CBI has started changing the prosecutors mid-way when the case was nearing completion and that the public prosecutor who was conducting the cases from the very beginning has been replaced by Shri Oma Shankar Singh, a retired Dy. Superintendent of Delhi Police who has commenced law practice recently. It is also submitted that respondent Nos. 4 and 5 are deliberately protracting the trial by taking unnecessary adjournments which, by itself, would be a ground for cancellation of bail. He further submitted that by virtue of the new political equations between the party in power in the State of Bihar and at the center, respondent No. 5, one of the main accused in the fodder scam now has substantial administrative control and political say in the functioning of the Government of India and that the CBI and the CBDT, respondent Nos. 2 and 3 have become a party in an effort to shield respondent Nos. 4 and 5. He continued to submit that this court shall monitor the case since the accused are using State machinery to block the judicial process and subvert the trial and dilatory tactics being adopted by the accused to delay the trial on one pretext or the other. He also submitted that the prosecutors or investigators connected with the fodder scam matters in the State of Bihar who have till date been discharging their functions in the Trial court should not be disturbed, replaced or sidelined.

Agenda Decision To consider the matter regarding postings of three special Judges at Patna for CBI (Fodder Scam cases), CBI South Bihar) and Vigilance Cases (Court No. 1) in place of S/Shri Yogendra Prasad, Mungeshwar Sahoo and jitendra Mohan Sharma respectively (P.F. XXVII-5-98) Having considered the relevant service records of the officers concerned and also taking into consideration the fact that no allegation petition has been received against Sri Muni Lal paswan, Addl. District Judge Saharsa. It is resolved that let him (Sri Muni Lal paswan) be posted as Special Judge for CBI (Fodder Scam Cases) at Patna. It is further resolved upon consideration of the relevant service records of the officer concerned that Sri JP Ratnesh Addl. District Judge, Patna be posted as Special Judge CBI south Bihar and Sri Ram Niwas Prasad, Addl. District Judge Patna as Special Judge fro Vigilance Case (Court No. 1).

37. It is important to bear in mind that in the matter of economic scams be it security transactions or fodder scams or Taj corridor, it is the economic interest of the country which is at stake. These cases are highly complicated in which complicated questions are involved and, therefore, posting plays a vital role.

38. In the circumstances, it seems that the procedure followed by the High Court in the meeting on 22-6-2005 has lost sight of the above criteria. In the circumstances, a request is being made to the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court to convene an urgent meeting of administrative Judges and complete the exercise of giving appropriate gradation/categorisation after looking at the judgments and orders delivered by the concerned Judge, Mr. Paswan. I may make it clear that this is just a request to the High Court and not a direction so that the evaluation standards are commonly applied to all the three candidates.