Supreme Court Appoints New Judge For Trial Of Coal Blocks Allocation Scam Cases

The Supreme Court today appointed judicial officer Ms Sunena Sharma to take over charge as the presiding Special  Court Judge in the ongoing trials pertaining to the Coal block scam.

The bench of CJI Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi was hearing an application by the Delhi High Court seeking directions to relieve the presiding judge, Mr Sanjay Bansal, who has conducted the trial for over four and half years. 

The Court proceeded to observe :

"The application has been moved, inter alia, pointing out that the present presiding officer Mr Sanjay Bansal, has by now served as the Special Judge for approximately 4.5 years, and he may be permitted to be replaced by some other officer." 

The Court then noted that, as per the order of April 8, 2025, the Supreme Court had earlier allowed Bansal to preside over the case for another 6 months to maintain the continuity. The order also stated that the relieving of Mr Bansal would be considered after 6 months. The bench noted that so far, 8 months had passed.

 "The Ld. High Court has sent a sealed envelope containing the names of the three members of the Delhi High Judicial Services. Going by the panel suggested by the High Court, we appoint Ms Sunaina Sharma, an officer of the Delhi Higher Judicial Service, as the Special Judge of the Coal Block allocation scam case."

Notably, in 2014, the Supreme Court declared the Coal allocation between 1993 and 2009 illegal, arbitrary, non-transparent and devoid of any procedure. A three-Judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Lodha declared that the entire allocation of coal block as per recommendations made by the Screening Committee from 14.07.1993 in 36 meetings and the allocation through the Government dispensation route suffers from the vice of arbitrariness and legal flaws.

Consequently, a Special Court was designated for the criminal trial of cases being investigated by the CBI in this connection. 

Case Details : MANOHAR LAL SHARMA vs. THE PRINCIPAL SECRETARY| W.P.(Crl.) No. 000120 / 2012