New Delhi, Oct 25 (PTI) 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.
The counsel submitted that Koda was convicted in 2017 and handed a three-year sentence that he has completed.
“Although the appeal against his conviction is pending before the high court,” he said.
The bench, which perused section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, said once someone is convicted and sentenced to jail for at least two years, he will be barred from contesting elections for six years after his release.
“In effect, in this case, the appellant will be barred for nine years for contesting elections,” the bench said and passed the order refusing to interfere with the high court verdict.
Senior advocate R S Cheema, appearing in the court on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), said a similar petition of Koda was dismissed by the court earlier also.
Polling for the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly is scheduled to be held in two phases on November 13 and November 20, and the counting of votes will be taken up on November 23.
On October 18, the Delhi High Court rejected a plea moved by Koda seeking a stay on his conviction in the case.
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 indulging in corrupt practices and hatching a 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).
The trial court 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. A fine of Rs 1 lakh was also slapped on Basu.
The convicts were granted bail during the pendency of their appeals.
Koda has sought the suspension of the December 2017 conviction order to contest the Jharkhand polls.
Under section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act, a person convicted of a crime and sentenced to at least two years in jail is immediately disqualified as an MP, MLA or a member of a state legislative council (MLC). The person remains disqualified for six years after being released from prison.
The CBI had submitted that an identical application filed by Koda was dismissed by the high court in May 2020 and his fresh plea seeking the same relief is not maintainable.
In May 2020, the high court refused to stay Koda’s conviction, saying it would not be apt to allow him to contest an election to any public office until he was finally acquitted.
The wider opinion was that those charged with crimes ought to be disqualified from contesting elections to public offices. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to stay Koda’s conviction and allow him to overcome the disqualification he had incurred, the high court had said. PTI MNL RC
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