Delhi High Court Suspends Sentence Of Company Official In Coal Block Scam, No Suspension Of Conviction

The Delhi High Court on Friday suspended the sentence of one Ramesh Kumar Jayaswal, former Director of Abhijeet Infrastructure Private Limited (AIPL) in an alleged case of irregularities related to the allocation of three coal blocks in Jharkhand.

Justice Amit Sharma partly allowed the plea filed by Jayaswal seeking ad-interim ex-parte stay of the trial court order convicting him in the case in December last year as well as three years of sentence.

It ordered that the sentence be suspended and directed Jayaswal to be released on bail on his furnishing personal bond in the sum of Rs. 1 lakh, along with one surety of the like amount.

Jayaswal was found guilty of being in conspiracy with co-convicts- AIPL and Manoj Kumar Jayaswal (former Managing Director of the company) for cheating the 24th Screening Committee, Union Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Steel and the State of Jharkhand while having knowledge that numerous forged documents were used on behalf of the company for procuring the Brinda, Sisai Coal Blocks.

It was alleged that Jayaswal falsely represented himself to be authorized signatory of AIPL under a position which he did not hold before Screening Committee Meetings which were held in 2003, despite the fact that he had already resigned from the said position in 2002.

Jayaswal argued that none of the prosecution witnesses examined before the Trial Court deposed anything incriminating against him. He submitted that the prosecution miserably failed to prove that he had knowledge of any forged documents, let alone establish that he had portrayed himself with any authority on behalf of AIPL before the 24th Screening Committee.

It was also submitted the he is currently Managing Director of a listed entity, i.e., M/s JNIL, and that d the impugned judgment of conviction was a major impediment in the repayment of its obligations as he had now become a subject to the disqualification emanating from Section 196 of the Companies Act, 2013, on account of being convicted by a Court for an offence and sentenced for a period of more than six months.

Partly allowing the plea, Justice Sharma analyzed the material on record and said that it cannot be stated, at this stage, that the judgment of conviction was prima facie unsustainable.

The Court said that the grounds taken in the appeal would be evaluated on its own merits during the final hearing.

It noted that Jayaswal, along with company, M/s JNIL, were also facing prosecution in the coal block case and that he was facing prosecution in his capacity as key personnel of the said company- M/s JNIL.

The Court said that keeping in view the said circumstances and the wider social impact, the case of Jayaswal cannot fall in the category of “exceptional circumstance” in order to give benefit of stay of conviction.

It added that the fact that Jayaswal was also facing trial in another coal block case in his capacity as key personnel of M/s. JNIL cannot be ignored at this stage.

“In view of the aforesaid facts and circumstances of the present case, the present application so far as it seeks suspension of impugned judgment of conviction dated 09.12.2024 is dismissed,” the Court said.

However, the Court suspended Jayaswal's sentence, noting that he is 65 years of age, was granted permission to travel abroad on several occasions during the pendency of the appeal and had not misused the liberty granted to him.

“In the totality of the facts and circumstances of the present case, the present application is partly allowed. The sentence of the appellant is suspended and he is directed to be released on bail on his furnishing personal bond in the sum of Rs.1,00,000/- along with one surety of the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned Trial Court/Link Court,” the Court said.

Title: RAMESH KUMAR JAYASWAL v. CBI

Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Del) 913

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