Jharkhand Assembly election: Setback for Madhu Koda, Supreme Court rejects his plea

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday rejected former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda's plea seeking a stay of conviction in the coal block allocation irregularities case so that he can contest the upcoming Assembly election in the State.
A bench of justices Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar rejected the plea by Madhu Koda challenging the Delhi High Court order.
Koda's counsel argued on the change in the situation and said that he was disallowed to contest the election since the date of conviction. However, the court was not convinced of his argument and remarked that various factors have to be considered for a stay of conviction.
Senior Advocate RS Cheema appeared for CBI in the matter.
In the plea filed through advocate Yoothica Pallavi, former Jharkhand CM Koda has challenged the Delhi High Court order dated October 18, 2024, which dismissed his plea seeking a stay of the conviction.
"Single Judge failed to appreciate that the Petitioner cannot be denied an opportunity to contest the election for an indefinite period. Petitioner (Madhu Koda) belongs to Ho Community of Kolhan Region of Jharkhand which is one of the most backward regions of India. The said community is around 10.7 per cent of Scheduled Tribe population of Jharkhand. The people of that region and petitioner will be prejudiced electorally due to refusal to suspend of the conviction of the Petitioner for an indefinite period," the petition said.
The Delhi High Court on October 18 dismissed former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda's plea seeking direction to stay his conviction in a coal scam case, to contest upcoming polls.
Koda, along with ex-coal secretary HC Gupta, former Jharkhand chief secretary AK Basu, and aide Vijay Joshi, received three-year prison sentences for corruption and conspiracy related to the allocation of the Rajhara North coal block to Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd.
In 2017, a Delhi court convicted Koda of criminal misconduct under the Prevention of Corruption Act, sentencing him to three years in prison and imposing a fine of Rs 5 lakh. Although he was granted bail and a stay on the fine in 2018, the Delhi High Court rejected a stay on his conviction in 2020.
Four years later, Koda again approached the High Court, citing new factual and legal developments as he sought to stay on his conviction, noting that his criminal appeal has been pending since 2017 and the case has not been scheduled for a hearing.