Coal block case: Delhi court to hear charges against Naveen Jindal, 14 others on Oct 5

A special court here on Friday fixed October 5 as the next date to hear arguments on charges connection with a coal scam case allegedly involving ex-member of parliament (MP) Naveen Jindal and 14 others.

The court also said that former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda's application seeking the summoning of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as an additional accused will be heard on September 2.

According to reports, the case pertains to the allocation of the Amarkonda-Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) and Gagan Sponge.

The massive irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks came to light in 2012 after the national auditor said a notional amount of Rs. 1.86 lakh crores had been lost through the blocks being distributed without a transparent bidding process.

Most of these allocations have been made by the erstwhile UPA Government. Manmohan Singh, who had also been summoned in one of the cases, received a reprieve from the Supreme Court in April.

Last year, the Supreme Court declared nearly 300 coal licenses issued since 1993 as illegal. After coming to power, the Narendra Modi Government has auctioned off 32 coal blocks.