The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was pulled up by the Supreme Court on Monday for delay in proceedings against an IAS officer and other accused in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam involving siphoning of public fund worth several hundred crore rupees.

The apex court expressed surprise that the CBI has been waiting for sanction from the Uttar Pradesh Government for prosecuting its officials, including IAS officer Pradeep Shukla, in the scam despite its order that sanction would be deemed to have been granted if the competent authority refuse to decide it within three months.

The court, however, refrained from passing any order after Additional Solicitor General Siddharth Luthra pleaded for more time.

It was hearing the agency plea against an Allahabad High Court order to treat Shukla's petition as a PIL and monitor the investigation in the scam.

Shukla had pleaded with the High Court to quash the FIRs registered against him as, he claimed, the CBI had not taken proper sanction for his prosecution from the Department of Personnel and Training.

The apex court, on September 26, had stayed the high court order.