A special CBI judge has asked all accused to be present before the court. (File photo)

A special court will pronounce its verdict in a coal scam case today against former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, former Coal Secretary HC Gupta and six others. The case is related to alleged irregularities in the allocation of the Rajhara North coal block in Jharkhand to Kolkata-based Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd (VISUL).During arguments, the CBI had alleged that the firm had applied for allocation of Rajhara North coal block on January 8, 2007.It said although the Jharkhand government and Steel Ministry did not recommend VISUL's case for coal block allocation, the 36th Screening Committee recommended the block to the accused firm.HC Gupta, 69, was Coal Secretary for two years under the Congress-led UPA government before he retired in 2008. As the man who chaired a screening committee that cleared at least 40 cases of coal mining rights, he is accused of playing a leading role in the massive swindle dubbed the coal scam. The former top bureaucrat was accused of not following a transparent auctioning system and causing losses running into crores to the taxpayer. He was booked in as many as eight cases.The CBI said that Mr Koda, Mr Basu and two accused public servants conspired to favour VISUL in the coal block allocation. The accused have denied the allegations.

In May this year, Mr Gupta was convicted along with two other former bureaucrats in a case related to the allocation of a coal mining block in Madhya Pradesh to a private company. It was the first coal scam case in which senior government officials were held guilty.