In Brief
Karnataka EMTA Coal Mines Limited and its MD challenged criminal charges filed by CBI for allegedly conspiring to illegally sell coal rejects from a captive coal mining operation. The Supreme Court held that the charges must be quashed because: (1) a prior High Court judgment had exonerated them on identical facts by ruling KPCL had no claim over the rejects under the contract; (2) the CAG audit report, which triggered the prosecution, lacked parliamentary approval and finality; and (3) denial of prosecution sanction to senior public servants for identical allegations demonstrated the case was baseless. The Court found the dispute was essentially contractual, not criminal, and proceeding further would constitute abuse of process.
The lawyer headnote and full judgment text are available to registered users.