[BREAKING] Supreme Court appoints two new special judges to conduct trial in Coal scam cases

The trial in the Coalgate related cases will now be conducted by two special courts after the Supreme Court on Monday appointed two judges to hear the cases..Judges Arun Bhardwaj and Sanjay Bhansal replaced Judge Bharat Parashar who has been hearing the cases since 2014.The order to that effect was passed today by a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India, SA Bobde after taking into account suggestions by Senior Counsel and Special Public Prosecutor in the matter, RS Cheema.Solicitor General Tushar Mehta acceded to Cheema’s suggestion..The Bench which also comprised Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian had recently taken note of a letter from the Delhi High Court’s Registrar General seeking permission to nominate or post another suitable presiding judicial officer as special judge in place of Parashar who has been conducting trial in coal scam cases since 2014. .The top court on March 15 requested the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court to provide names of five trial court judges of “high caliber and absolute integrity” to be appointed as the special judge to replace Parashar..The Bench had taken note of the submission of special public prosecutor RS Cheema that the law contemplates the disposal of the such cases has to be ensured in two years which may be extended upto four times by periods of six months each.It had also taken note of the fact that Parashar has been acting as the special judge since 2014 and that it was time to replace him. .Coal Scam: Senior Counsel RS Cheema to continue as Special Public Prosecutor for ED cases for now.When the Bench sat on Monday, it revealed that five names were suggested to it."We don't have their ACRs. We believe all of them are good since they have been sent by the Delhi High Court Registrar General," observed CJI Bobde..At this point, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) for the Coal Scam case, RS Cheema suggested that two special courts be made to hear the 40+ cases related to the scam..When Solicitor General Tushar Mehta agreed to this suggestion, the Court ended up appointing two judges to man the two special courts..On the question of Cheema being relieved of his role as SPP in PMLA cases arising from Coalgate, the Court said,"You are so valuable. We can relieve you if you suggest an alternate.".The Supreme Court had, in 2014, quashed allocation of 214 coal blocks allotted by the Central government between 1993 and 2010. The order was passed on public interest litigation petitions filed by lawyer ML Sharma and NGO Common Cause. It had also ordered a court-monitored trial in the cases registered pursuant to the same.