New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday (October 24) said that it will on Friday an appeal filed by former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda seeking a stay on his conviction in a coal scam case to enable him to contest the upcoming Jharkhand assembly elections.
A bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice R Mahadevan said that the judges were not able to go through the case files as the case files were sent to them late and therefore, the matter will be taken up on Friday.
Koda has moved apex court against Delhi High Court order
Koda has moved the top court challenging an order of the October 18 order of the Delhi High Court rejecting his plea seeking a stay on his conviction to enable him to contest the Jharkhand assembly polls, which are scheduled to be held in two phases on November 13 and November 23. The counting of votes for the 81-member Jharkhand assembly will take place on November 23.
Koda, others were convicted for indulging in corrupt practices
The trial court, while convicting Koda, found that he abused his position as a public servant in order to obtain the allocation of Rajhara Coal Block in Jharkhand in favour of a Kolkata-based company – Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Limited (‘VISUL’) – without any public interest.
Koda, former coal secretary HC Gupta, former Jharkhand chief secretary AK Basu and Vijay Joshi, Koda’s close aide, were awarded three years of imprisonment by the trial court for indulging in corrupt practices and hatching a criminal conspiracy in the allocation of Rajhara North coal block. They were granted bail during the pendency of their appeals in the case.
While Koda urged the High Court to suspend the trial court’s December 13, 2017 order convicting him of criminal misconduct, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which investigated the case, opposed Koda’s plea on the ground of maintainability.
High Court earlier in 2020 refused to stay Koda’s conviction
Koda had moved the High Court earlier also for a stay on his conviction in the case to enable him to contest for election to public offices, however, his plea was rejected by the High Court in May 2020.
“If the wider opinion is that persons charged with crimes ought to be disqualified from contesting elections to public offices, it would not be apposite for this court to stay the appellant’s conviction to overcome the disqualification incurred by him,” the High Court had said in 2020 while refusing to stay Koda’s conviction in the coal scam case.
