Meghalaya Chief Secy Kropha convicted in Coal allocation scam likely to appeal against verdict!

Shillong, May 20: A special court on May 19 convicted former coal secretary H C Gupta in a coal scam case along with two other bureaucrats including the then joint secretary in the Coal Ministry as well as KS Kropha (the present Chief Secretary of Meghalaya).

Kuljit Singh Kropha, who was convicted along with two other bureaucrats in the coal block allocation scam has on May 20 said he would appeal against the verdict after getting a copy of the judgement.

Kropha, who is yet to return from New Delhi, in his reply to the text message from this correspondent on whether he would appeal against the judgement of the CBI special court, said: "Waiting for a copy of the judgement…. to be decided thereafter only."

Legal experts opined that Kropha and the other accused can appeal in a higher court against the conviction within a certain period. "Anyone convicted can appeal in a higher court. The court that gave the verdict can grant some time to convicted persons to file an appeal," a lawyer here said.

Hours after the CBI special court convicted the then Coal Ministry Joint Secretary, KS Kropha, who is the present chief secretary of Meghalaya, along with two other top bureaucrats – Ex- Coal secretary, HC Gupta and Director K C Samaria in a Coal Scam Case, the Meghalaya government on Friday maintained that it will wait for the order on quantum of sentence to be pronounced before taking any necessary steps.

"We will wait for the final sentence from the CBI, then we will take necessary steps on how to how about it," Meghalaya cabinet minister Prestone Tynsong said.

A 1982 IAS batch officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Kropha hails from Himachal Pradesh. The soft-spoken official took over as chief secretary on February 29 last year and is due to retire on December 19 this year.

TNT News with inputs from The Telegraph