Coal scam: Manmohan Singh's colleague Santosh Bagrodia seeks parity in SC

Former Union Minister Santosh Bagrodia on Monday sought parity with former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for staying of criminal proceedings against him in a trial court in a coal block allocation case.

The 75-year-old Congress leader, who was junior minister to Singh in the coal ministry from April 2008 to May 2009, said he was entitled for the same relief the apex court gave to the then Prime Minister on April 1 by staying the order of the trial court summoning him as an accused in another case arising out of the coalgate.

"Am I not entitled on equity to the same relief as done in the case of Manmohan Singh," Bagrodia's counsel and senior advocate K K Venugopal submitted before a bench headed by Justice M B Lokur.

He said if his appeal against the special court order was not admitted and the trial court proceeding was not stayed like that of Singh, then he would say that justice had not been done in the case.

"There is only one Supreme Court of India though you sit in different benches," Venugopal said, adding he was asking for the same order as was given by another bench to Singh.

"Why should I (Bagrodia) be placed on different footing? My case is also of summoning like Singh," the senior advocate said before the bench, which also comprised Justices Kurian Joseph and A K Sikri.

When Bagrodia sought exemption from personal appearance before the trial court where he has to be present on September 29, the bench, which was at first reluctant to grant relief, accepted the plea of his counsel.

"You move an application for exemption from personal appearance before the trial court which will consider your plea," the bench said while posting the matter for further hearing on September 29.

CBI counsel and senior advocate Amarender Sharan opposed the plea of former union minister for stay of proceeding against him saying their was alleged motive on his part and his role cannot be denied. Bagrodia, former Minister of State for Coal in Singh's cabinet has been summoned as accused by special CBI court in a case concerning allocation of Maharashtra's Bander coal block to AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd.

On September 7, the bench had refused to grant him any relief saying that Singh's matter will come for hearing within 10 to 12 days. However, when Singh's case came for hearing on September 15 before a bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu, it ordered its deletion from list of business of September 21.

The apex court on April 1 had stayed the trial court order summoning Singh as accused in a case pertaining to grant of Talabira-II coal block in Odisha in 2005 to Aditya Birla group company Hindalco. The order also applied to Hindalco Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, former Coal Secretary P C Parakh and three others -- Hindalco, Shubhendu Amitabh and D Bhattacharya, its officials.

Along with Bagrodia, ex-Coal Secretary H C Gupta and retired public servant L S Janoti were summoned as accused in the case. The trial court has taken cognisance of alleged offences under sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating), 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) under the IPC and under relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act. These three accused were summoned as accused in the case in which the CBI had earlier chargesheeted Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, his son Devendra Darda, AMR Iron and Steel Pvt Ltd and its Director Manoj Jayaswal as accused. Bagrodia was granted bail by the trial court on September 8.

Meanwhile, in another coal scam case, the apex court sought response from CBI on a plea challenging validity of section 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act dealing with the abuse of position by public servant.

The petition in this regard was filed by Basant Kumar Bhattacharya and Bipin Bihari Singh who are accused in the case pertaining to alleged irregularities in allocation of Rajhara North (Central and Eastern) coal block in Jharkhand to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL). Bhattacharya was the then section officer in Department of Mines of Jharkhand, while Bipin Bihari Singh was then Director Mines in the state. The court, however, dismissed their appeal challenging the order of trial court going ahead with the proceedings.

The then Chief Minister of Jharkhand Madhu Koda and ex-Coal Secretary H C Gupta are also accused along with then Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Basu, VISUL, its director Vaibhav Tulsyan, Koda's alleged close aide Vijay Joshi and chartered accountant Navin Kumar Tulsyan in the case.