Supreme Court appoints new judge to hear Coal Scam cases
Supreme Court had in 2014 quashed the allocation of 214 coal blocks by the Centre between 1993 and 2010.
Supreme Court has appointed Judge Sunaina Sharma to conduct the trials in the coal scam cases being probed by the CBI.
The Supreme Court yesterday appointed a new judge, Sunaina Sharma, to hear the trials in the coal scam cases being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
A CJI Surya Kant led bench considered the names of three judicial officers submitted by the Delhi High Court to replace Special CBI Judge Sanjay.
Court was told by Senior Advocate R. S. Cheema, that the incumbent Judge Bansal was allowed last year to continue from April 8, 2025, for a period of six months and eight months had passed since then.
“We appoint Sunaina Sharma as a special judge (the Prevention of Corruption Act/CBI/coal block allocation cases). The High Court is at liberty to seek replacement of the aforesaid in case of any exigency,” the CJI went on to order.
A total of 29 corruption cases filed by the CBI are currently pending before two special courts set up to try coal scam cases.
Notably, yesterday the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also approached the Supreme Court, accusing the West Bengal government, including Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, of interference and obstruction during its search and investigation at the I-PAC office and the residence of its director Pratik Jain in Kolkata, in connection with the coal pilferage money-laundering case.
According to reports, the ED has alleged that the state administration and senior officials obstructed its probe, disrupting an ongoing search operation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The agency’s petition seeks the Supreme Court’s intervention to ensure unhindered investigation into the alleged transfer of hawala funds linked to the coal scam to political consultancy firm I-PAC, which has worked with the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
The development comes in the backdrop of searches conducted by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday (January 8) at multiple premises linked to I-PAC and Pratik Jain in Kolkata. The searches were carried out as part of a money laundering investigation connected to an alleged multi-crore coal pilferage scam.