Supreme Court Stays Cognizance Against Former Coal Secretary, Naveen Jindal, JSPL In Coal Block Allocation Case

The Supreme Court recently stayed a Delhi court's decision to take cognizance in the coal block allocation case involving former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (JSPL), its Chairman Naveen Jindal and others.

The proceedings arise out of a CBI investigation into the allocation and subsequent mining operations of the Gare Palma IV/1 coal block in Chhattisgarh. A preliminary inquiry was initiated in 2012 following complaints alleging irregularities in coal block allocations between 1993 and 2005.

Based on the inquiry, the CBI registered an FIR on October 18, 2014 against Jindal Strips Ltd. and unknown public servants.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana issued notice on the special leave petitions. It also tagged the matter with other connected matters for a final hearing on July 29.

Pending further orders, the bench granted an ad-interim stay of the Delhi court's June 1, 2026 order taking cognizance.

"Meanwhile, there shall be ad-interim stay of the impugned order(s) dated 01.06.2026 passed by the Special Judge (Coal Block Cases)-02, Rouse Avenue District Courts, New Delhi in RC No.221/2014/E/0018, CBI Case No.64/2025 till further orders. List all the cases for final hearing on 29.07.2026.", the court ordered.

According to the chargesheet, Jindal Strips Ltd was identified for allocation of the Gare Palma IV/1 coal block by the 10th Screening Committee on April 3, 1996 and the Ministry of Coal communicated the allocation on June 20, 1996.

The CBI alleged that the company had already applied for a mining lease before the formal allocation, subsequently secured a lease over an area exceeding that approved by the Ministry of Coal, engaged in excess mining, illegally sold coal and washery products and obtained regularisation of the deviations through the 27th Screening Committee in 2005 in conspiracy with public servants, causing undue pecuniary benefit.

Taking cognizance on June 1, 2026, the Special Judge observed that after considering the allegations in the chargesheet, the roles attributed to each accused, the supporting documents and witness statements.

"Having considered the submissions of Ld. Sr. PP for CBI in the light of above allegations contained in the chargesheet, the specific role attributed to each of the accused placed in column no.11 and the documents filed in support thereof, including the statements of witnesses, more specifically, LW-8 Sh. Rajinder Singh Negi, LW-9 Sh. Rajeev Sharma, LW-14 Sh. Shyam Sunder from Ministry of Coal and LW-17 Sh. Deepak Anurag from Ministry of Steel recorded under Section 161 Cr.P.C, there exists sufficient material for this court to proceed in the matter."

The court took cognizance of offences under Sections 120B, 409 and 420 IPC, Sections 13(2) and with 13(1)(c) and 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and issued summons to JSPL, P.C. Parakh, Naveen Jindal and the other accused.

For Petitioner: Manish Singhvi, Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Advocates, D. K. Devesh, AOR, Apurv Singhvi, Shalini Haldar, Jitesh Saluja, Suprabh Kumar Roshan, Gauri Rasgotra, Dinesh Moorjani, Shivansh Agarwal, Karan Singh Duggal, Gurpreet Singh Parwanda, Pallav Srivastava, Charu Mathur, AOR

For Respondent: Aishwarya Bhati, ASG, Chitrangda R., Adv.

Click Here To Read/Download Cognisance Order of June 1, 2026