In a notable judgment that revisits one of India’s major economic controversies, a Delhi court on Friday acquitted former Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, along with two senior bureaucrats and a private firm, in a case linked to the allocation of a coal block in Maharashtra. The court ruled that the evidence presented did not meet the legal threshold required for a conviction.
The case involved the allocation of the Lohara East coal block in Maharashtra to Grace Industries Ltd during 2008, a period marked by scrutiny over coal resource distribution. Gupta, who served as the Coal Secretary between 2006 and 2009, had earlier been convicted in similar cases but was exonerated in this instance due to insufficient proof.
Also acquitted were K.S. Kropha, then Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Coal, and K.C. Samaria, who served as Director at the time. Grace Industries Ltd and its director Mukesh Gupta were similarly found not guilty.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had alleged that Grace Industries acquired the coal block by submitting false information regarding its financial strength and proposed production capacity. The investigative agency claimed the public officials failed to detect or acted despite these misrepresentations, leading to unlawful gains for the company and losses for the government.
However, the Special Judge, Arun Bhardwaj, in his detailed ruling, highlighted the lack of conclusive and corroborative evidence. He stated that while the procedures may have been flawed, the criminal intent required to hold the accused liable was not proven beyond reasonable doubt.
The court noted that assumptions or suspicions cannot replace concrete evidence, particularly in cases involving senior public officials. Judge Bhardwaj emphasized that criminal jurisprudence demands strict adherence to the principle of “proof beyond reasonable doubt,” and that threshold was not met in this trial.
This case is part of the broader “coal scam” or “Coalgate” controversy, which erupted after a 2012 report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) claimed irregular coal block allocations between 2004 and 2009 caused notional losses to the public exchequer estimated at ₹1.86 lakh crore. The controversy triggered national outrage, legislative uproar, and a series of investigations involving top government officials and industrialists.
Over the years, multiple trials have been conducted under the CBI’s supervision, with some ending in convictions and others in acquittals. H.C. Gupta had been sentenced in previous coal-related cases but had always maintained his innocence, asserting that all decisions were taken collectively and in accordance with government policy at the time.
Conclusion:
The acquittal of H.C. Gupta and other accused individuals in this coal block case reflects the judicial system’s insistence on factual accuracy and evidentiary rigor. While it offers legal relief to the former bureaucrats and the private firm, the verdict also revives discussions on systemic accountability, transparency in resource allocation, and the legal challenges in addressing high-level administrative decisions. As remaining cases from the coal scam era progress, the larger question of governance reforms and institutional checks continues to hold national relevance.
