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SC rejects Harshad's plea against pardon to UCO Bank officials

The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal by securities scam-accused Harshad Mehta challenging a special court decision to grant pardon to two senior UCO Bank officials who were accused along with him in Rs 500 million discounted bill of exchange case in the multi-million scam.

A Bench comprising Justice S P Bharucha, Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice Brijesh Kumar dismissed Mehta's petition and upheld the verdict of the special court granting pardon to deputy general manager, Bhaskar Roychoudhury and assistant general manager, S V Prabhu.

Appearing for Mehta, senior advocate Ram Jethmalani had contended that the special court did not have the power to grant pardon.

However, appearing for the two officials Bishwajit Bhattacharyya contended that under the special legislation enacted to try all security scam-related cases, the special court alone had the jurisdiction to deal with the cases and hence had the power to grant pardon.

The then special judge S N Variava, now a Supreme Court judge, had granted pardon to these officials on June 22, 1993 after their statements were recorded by the magistrate.

In the FIR registered by the police, the names of Harshad Mehta and the then chairman of UCO Bank, K Margabandhu, appeared along with the two officials for the Rs 500 million scam.

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