The Delhi High Court today fixed April 16 for hearing an appeal by former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, who along with others was convicted and sentenced to three years in a coal scam case, and extended his bail till the pendency of his plea.
Justice Anu Malhotra, besides Koda, extended the bail of his close aide Vijay Joshi till the pendency of his appeal.
The court also suspended the three-year jail term of former Jharkhand chief secretary A K Basu till it decided the matter, by granting him bail on furnishing of a personal bond of Rs one lakh and a surety of the like amount.
Senior advocate R S Cheema, appearing for the CBI, told the court that the agency does not wish to file any response on the appeals of the three convicts and Kolkata-based company Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL) at this stage.
Taking note of the submission, the court fixed April 16 for hearing the appeals and asked the parties to file their written submissions.
It directed the convicts to be present before it on the next date of hearing.
The order came on the convicts' plea seeking suspension of the sentence and regular bail till pendency of his appeal before the high court.
Koda, who was held guilty of corruption and conspiracy in allocation of a Jharkhand-based coal block to VISUL, also challenged the December 13 and 16, 2017 orders of conviction and sentence, which was admitted by the high court.
The convicts were granted statutory bail for a period of two months to enable them file appeals in the high court challenging the verdict.
In his appeal, Koda has claimed the trial court order holding him guilty was bad in law.
The high court has stayed the trial court order also imposing a fine of Rs 50 lakh, Rs 25 lakh, Rs 25 lakh and Rs one lakh on VISUL, Koda, Joshi and Basu respectively.
Koda, ex-coal secretary H C Gupta, Basu and Joshi were awarded jail terms of three years for indulging in corrupt practices and hatching a criminal conspiracy in the allocation of Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to the Kolkata-based company.
While sentencing the convicts, the special court had said "white collar crimes" were more "dangerous" to the society than ordinary crimes.
The trial court had also imposed a fine Rs 1 lakh on Gupta in the UPA-era coal scam.
The convicts were tried for offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating) and 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servants) of the IPC and under provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
While the offence of cheating carries a maximum of seven years jail term, criminal breach of trust by public servants entails a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
The CBI had said that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007.
It had said that although the Jharkhand government and the steel ministry did not recommend VISUL's case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm.
The CBI had said that Gupta, who was chairman of the screening committee, had concealed facts from then prime minister Manmohan Singh, who at that time headed the coal ministry too, that Jharkhand had not recommended VISUL for allocation of a coal block.
So far, four out of 30 coal block allocation scam cases have been decided by the special court, including this order, and 12 people and four companies have been held guilty.
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