Coal scam case: Delhi court sentences former MP Vijay Darda to 4 years in prison; ex-Coal Secretary HC Gupta gets 3 years

A Delhi court on Wednesday sentenced former Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament (MP) Vijay Darda, his son Devender Darda and director of JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd Manoj Kumar Jayaswal, to four years' imprisonment in a case relating to irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Chhattisgarh. .Special CBI judge Sanjay Bansal of the Rouse Avenue Courts further directed Coal Secretary HC Gupta and IAS officers KS Kropha and KC Samria to undergo three years of imprisonment..A fine of ₹10 lakh each has been imposed on the Dardas and Jayaswal, while Gupta, Kropha and Samria are to pay a fine of ₹10,000 each..A detailed order is awaited..In an order pronounced on July 13, the Court held all the accused guilty of offences 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 is the thirteenth conviction in the coal scam case..The case relates to allocation of coal blocks which were advertised in 2006. It was alleged that JLD Yavatmal Energy Pvt Ltd had concealed various facts in its application form in order to obtain wrongful gain in the allocation of the coal block.It was said that the coal block was allocated to JLD as a result of active collaboration between the office bearers of the company and the officials of the Ministry of Coal (MoC) - Gupta, Kropha and Samria.While Gupta was then Coal Secretary and Chairman of the Screening Committee, Kropha was posted as Joint Secretary in the MoC and was the Member Convener of the Screening Committee. Samria was also posted in the MoC and the allegation went that all the applications were received in his office and his office supervised the entire process of processing the applications right through the entire process of allocation of coal blocks..The CBI had filed a closure report in the case on April 15, 2014 stating that there was no material to show commission of any criminal conspiracy of cheating. However, the closure report was rejected by the predecessor judge in November 2014. The judge said that private parties had committed an offence of cheating and there was active connivance with the officials of the MoC..In an order running into over 400 pages, the court has now held that the accused company did make misrepresentations and dishonestly induced the Government of India.On the role of the public servants, the court said that they must be liable for their actions and even though the guidelines issued by the MoC to govern the allocation of captive coal blocks may not be termed as law under Article 13 of the Constitution, they were binding upon the officers.The court added that the allocation of a coal block to an ineligible company is against public interest and the actions of the three officers conclusively show that their efforts were to somehow recommend allocation of the coal block in favour of JLD.