SC stays ex-Maha min’s conviction in forgery case

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the conviction of former Maharashtra minister Manikrao Shivaji Kokate in a three-decade-old cheating and forgery case paving the way for him to rejoin the Assembly.

- Abraham Thomas

The court further directed the NCP leader not to hold any office of profit as it admitted his appeal, observing that the trial court order convicting him in the case had committed a “fundamental error”.

A special vacation bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the order while hearing Kokate's plea challenging the December 19 order of the Bombay high court refusing stay on his conviction. “Meanwhile, the conviction of the petitioner shall remain stayed to the extent that there will be no effect of disqualification for him to continue as member of the Maharashtra legislative assembly. However, he will not hold any office of profit.”

The decision comes as a great relief to Kokate, a five-time MLA, who stepped down as a cabinet minister following a Nashik court order of December 16 convicting him in a three-decade old case. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment, attracting the disqualification under section 8(3) of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951 (ROPA).