The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the UP Panchayati Raj Minister Balram Yadav of the newly formed Samajwadi Party Government in the Ayurveda scam. A Division Bench comprising Justices HL Dattu and CK Prasad issued the notice while hearing a CBI petition seeking his prosecution in the 1996 multi-crore Ayurveda scam.

The probe agency has approached the apex court challenging the Allahabad High Court order of quashing criminal proceeding against the Minister, who was the state's Health Minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government at the time of the scam.

The High Court had last year quashed the proceedings against Yadav, saying that proper sanction was not taken from the competent authority to prosecute him.

Meanwhile, the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded Yadav’s resignation on moral grounds. Talking to media persons at Lucknow, BJP state spokesman Rajendra Tiwari said after the Supreme Court's notice, Yadav should be dropped from the Ministry.