The Delhi High Court on Wednesday granted bail to former Secretary of the Union Ministry of Coal HC Gupta as well as bureaucrat KC Kropha in connection with a case involving irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh.
Convicted by a trial court on July 13 this year along with former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Vijay Darda, his son Devender Darda, and JLD Yavatmal Energy director Manoj Kumar Jayaswal, Gupta and Kropha received a three-year prison sentence. Another bureaucrat named KC Samria was also convicted in the case.
A single bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma observed that Gupta and Kropha had been granted bail in similar cases previously due to their three-year prison terms. While granting them bail, the Court issued a notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and scheduled the case for further consideration along with appeals filed by other convicts.
The trial court found all accused guilty under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
This marked the thirteenth conviction in the coal scam case. The case pertains to coal block allocations advertised in 2006. Allegations surfaced that JLD Yavatmal Energy had concealed pertinent information in its application form to improperly benefit from the coal block allocation.
The trial court stated in its conviction order that private parties had engaged in the act of cheating with the active collusion of Ministry of Coal (MoC) officials. The court also held the public servants accountable for their actions, emphasizing that while the MoC’s guidelines for captive coal block allocation might not be legally classified as ‘law’ under Article 13 of the Constitution, they were binding on the officers.
