New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda’s plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a coal scam case to enable him to contest the upcoming state Assembly polls.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar refused to interfere with an October 18 order of the Delhi High Court dismissing Koda’s plea for a stay of the conviction order passed in 2017.
During the hearing, the counsel appearing in the court for Koda submitted that an irreversible wrong will be done to him if his conviction is not stayed and he is not allowed to contest the election next month.
On December 13, 2017, Koda, former coal secretary H C Gupta, former Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu and Koda’s close aide Vijay Joshi were sentenced to three years in prison by a trial court for alleged corrupt practices and criminal conspiracy in the allocation of the Rajhara North Coal Block in the state to Kolkata-based company Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Limited (VISUL).
It had imposed fines of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs 1 lakh on VISUL, Koda and Gupta, respectively, in the UPA-era coal scam. Basu was further saddled with a Rs 1 lakh fine.
The convicts were however granted bail during the pendency of their appeals.
