Dom's Take: The Strange Case Of H C Gupta

Two Mondays ago, August 8, a Delhi court sentenced former coal secretary H C Gupta a 3-year jail term in a coal scam case related to irregularities in the allocation of a coal block in Maharashtra.

An IAS officer of the 1971 batch, Mr Gupta, who rose to be Union coal secretary, has been convicted and given jail sentences in 11 out of 12 cases filed under the so-called coal mines allocation scam.

Once, the 74-year-old bureaucrat proclaimed in court that he has to plead guilty in all the cases since he has no money left for lawyers to fight the case.

Mr Gupta has found unusual support against his conviction from the IAS fraternity (external link).

As Shekhar Gupta pointed out in The Print (external link), 'In none of the 11 cases where he's been convicted has he been held guilty of having collected any financial or material benefit for himself, or of having any intention to commit a crime.'

'In none of the 11 cases of mine allocation was he the final, or the main deciding authority. The decision was taken by a screening committee. So, if he's guilty for having cleared an undeserving allocation, so is every member, and the prime minister then, Dr Manmohan Singh,' Gupta explained in his column.

Dominic Xavier offers his take on Mr Gupta's conviction.

Will the Supreme Court take note of the case and ensure a respected civil servant is not punished for being in office at the wrong time?

• DOM'S TAKE