"Not be swayed by what Government Wants"; says Adv. Bhushan: Supreme Court reserves order in Coal Scam

Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna & Justice V Ramasubramanian reserves order in the Coal Scam case.

The bench was inclined to decide on the names of Mr. DP Singh and Mr. Satish Tamta, however, Learned SGI Mr. Mehta expressed some disagreements.

"After dismissing these two names, I had suggested Mr. Maninder Singh and Mr. Rajesh Batra", submitted the learned SGI.

Adv ML Sharma submitted that whoever may be considered, must not have any prior connections; must not have represented the parties/accused in the matter earlier and be preferrably from the Trial Court.

Mr. Bhushan submitted, "You should go by the original recommendations of  Mr. Cheema. Your lordship should not be swayed by what Government wants and what it does not want specially in such matters."

The matter today was listed for adjudicating with regards to the letter dated January 10, 2020 filed by Mr. R.S. Cheema, learned Senior Counsel/SPP vide which he sought permission to withdraw from the responsibility of Special Public Prosecutor in the cases filed by the Directorate of Enforcement under PML Act. 

On the last date of hearing, the Bench upon the letter dated 03.02.2021 filed by the Registrar General of Delhi High Court to nominate/post another suitable Officer as Special Judge in place of Mr Bharat Parashar, Special Judge who was appointed vide order dated July 25,2014  to deal and exclusively try the offences pertaining to coal block allocation matters under the Indian Penal Code, 1860, Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, Prevention of Money-Laundering Act, 2002 and other allied offences appointed Shri Varun Bharadwaj and Shri Sanjay Bansal for Special Courts number 1 and 2, in their order of Seniority.

The full Judge Bench comprising the then Hon’ble Chief Justice RM Lodha, Justice Madan B Lokur & Justice Kurian Joseph of Supreme Court on August 25, 2014 declared that the allotment of coal blocks made by the Screening Committee of the Government of India, as also the allotments made through the Government dispensation route are arbitrary and illegal upon a petition filed by Common Cause an NGO including former cabinet secretary TSR Subramanian, former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami in 2012 questioning the legality of allocation of coal blocks to private companies from 1993 onwards. 

Along with appointing Mr Bharat Parashar as a Special Judge, on July 25,2014, the Court also directed to transfer all the cases pending before different Courts in Delhi pertaining to coal block allocation matters to the Court of Special Judge. 

Case Title: Manohar Lal Sharma v. The Principal Secretary & Ors | WP (Crl) 120 of 2012