A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar declined to intervene in the Delhi High Court’s October 18 ruling that had refused to stay Koda’s 2017 conviction.
![[Coal Scam] Setback for Former Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda; Supreme Court Rejects Plea To Contest Upcoming Election](https://i0.wp.com/lawchakra.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/image-1-4.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1)
New Delhi: Today (Oct 25): The Supreme Court dismissed a plea from former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, which sought to stay his conviction in a coal scam case to allow him to participate in the upcoming state assembly elections.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar declined to intervene in the Delhi High Court’s October 18 ruling that had refused to stay Koda’s 2017 conviction.
Koda was granted the option to request an expedited hearing for his pending appeal in this matter.
Senior Advocate R.S. Cheema represented the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) during the proceedings. On October 18, the Delhi High Court dismissed an application from the former Jharkhand Chief Minister related to this issue, prompting Koda to file an appeal with the Supreme Court through advocate Yoothica Pallavi.
Koda later submitted a plea to suspend his conviction to enable him to contest the upcoming assembly elections in Jharkhand, as his three-year sentence disqualified him from running.
A similar plea was dismissed by the Delhi High Court in 2020, and another request for the same relief was also denied in May of this year. He subsequently challenged this decision before the Supreme Court.
BRIEF FACTS
Polling for the 81-member Jharkhand assembly is scheduled for two phases on November 13 and November 20, with the counting of votes set for November 23.
Koda, who served as Jharkhand’s Chief Minister from 2006 until his resignation in 2008, was convicted by a Delhi court in 2017 for corruption linked to the coal scam. This case, investigated by the CBI, involved allegations of irregularities in the allocation of the Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL) in 2008.
On December 13, 2017, Koda, along with former coal secretary H.C. Gupta, former Jharkhand chief secretary A.K. Basu, and Koda’s close associate Vijay Joshi, was sentenced to three years in prison for alleged corrupt practices and criminal conspiracy related to the allocation of the Rajhara North Coal Block to Kolkata-based Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Limited (VISUL).
The trial court imposed fines of Rs 50 lakh on VISUL, Rs 25 lakh on Koda, and Rs 1 lakh on Gupta, while Basu was also fined Rs 1 lakh.
He was sentenced to three years of rigorous imprisonment in this case but subsequently filed an appeal against the trial court’s verdict and was granted bail during its consideration.
Despite the convictions, the individuals were granted bail while their appeals are pending.
Pevious Reports On Former Jharkhand CM
