SC to review orders barring HCs from hearing coal block allocation cases

The Supreme Court Wednesday said it would consider pleas seeking modification of its earlier orders that barred high courts from hearing appeals against trial court orders passed in cases related to alleged illegal coal block allocations.

The apex court passed two orders between 2014 and 2017 restricting the accused from approaching the high court and had directed that appeals against trial court proceedings in the coal scam cases could only be filed in the top court.

The intent behind the orders was to expedite trial processes by preventing delays and to stall the proceedings by the accused seeking relief in high courts.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar was considering pleas that urged it to modify the orders saying the Delhi High Court, being the appellate court, be allowed to deal with the pleas arising out of trial court orders related to coal scam cases.

"Is this the stand of the CBI that everything should come to us?" the CJI asked senior advocate R S Cheema who is conducting trial in CBI cases as a special public prosecutor.

"We also want to have the benefit of Delhi High Court orders passed in these cases," the bench said.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for a litigant, said the high court cannot be restrained from hearing appeals and the pleas seeking discharge in the cases.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO 'Common Cause', said the orders were passed to ensure that the trial does not get impeded by the accused by moving the high court against interlocutory orders passed by the trial court.

The bench said since the orders were passed by a three-judge bench, let it be listed before a bench of the same strength in the week commencing January 15, 2025.

The top court in 2014 quashed 214 coal blocks allocated by the Centre between 1993 and 2010 after taking note of the PILs and ordered a trial by a special CBI judge.

The bench had directed that any prayer for a stay or to impede the investigation or the trial could only be made before the Supreme Court, effectively barring other courts from entertaining such pleas.

Another bench headed by Justice Abhay S Oka had earlier issued a notice to the Enforcement Directorate seeking clarification on whether the bar imposed by its earlier decision restricting any prayer for a stay or impeding the progress of investigation/trial in Coal Block Allocation cases to the top court alone also applies to complaints filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

It was submitted whether the bar outlined in earlier orders needed clarification, particularly whether it extends to cases under the PMLA linked to the coal block allocation scam.

The CBI filed 57 cases in the coal scam. Several consequential money laundering cases were also filed.