New Delhi. Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda did not get relief from the Supreme Court. On Friday, the court rejected Madhu Koda’s plea to stay the sentence. After the court rejected the petition, he will no longer be able to contest the assembly elections being held in Jharkhand.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Sanjeev Khanna, while hearing the petition of former CM Koda, who was convicted in the coal scam case, said that we agree with the decision of the Supreme Court in Afzal Ansari v. State of Uttar Pradesh (2023). He said many factors must be taken into account to uphold a conviction, which is not a routine matter. In the Afzal Ansari case, the appellant was a sitting member of the legislature. But this is not the real situation in this case. In such a situation, the court rejects the petition.
When Madhu Koda was sentenced, he was not a member of the Legislative Assembly and did not even have to lose his membership. In such a situation, these situations are different, which is why the Supreme Court rejected the petition. Madhu Koda did not get relief from the court’s decision and will now not be able to contest the assembly elections.
Earlier, a three-member bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Khanna, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice R Mahadevan had said in its hearing on Thursday that the judges could not examine the case files as they were sent to them late, so the matter was not considered. The hearing will take place tomorrow, Friday.
The court asked senior advocate RS Cheema, who appeared before the court on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation in this case, to examine the court’s earlier decision, which said that the scope of suspension of sentence is different of the prescribed scope in bail cases. Cheema agreed to examine the Supreme Court’s earlier decision.
Earlier, on October 18, the Delhi High Court had rejected Madhu Koda’s plea to stay her sentence. CBI opposed Koda’s petition and said it is not worthy of consideration.
On December 13, 2017, the lower court convicted former CM Madhu Koda, former coal secretary HC Gupta, former state chief secretary AK Basu and Koda’s close aide Vijay Joshi in cases of corruption and sale from state-owned Rajhara North coal block to Kolkata. The Vini company was sentenced to 3 years in prison for improper allocation of Iron and Steel Industries Limited (VISUL).
Under the Representation of the People Act, a person found guilty of any crime and sentenced to a prison sentence of a minimum of two years is immediately disqualified as an MP, deputy or member of the State Legislative Council (RJC). Not only this, even after being released from prison, he is still unable to participate in elections for six years.
