The Supreme Court of India on Monday stayed the conviction of former Maharashtra minister Manikrao Kokate in a cheating and forgery case, granting him interim relief from disqualification as a Member of the Legislative Assembly, while barring him from holding any office of profit.
A vacation bench led by Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the Maharashtra government on Kokate’s plea challenging his conviction and sentence.
Passing the interim order, the bench said the conviction would remain stayed “to the extent that there shall be no disqualification as a member of legislative assembly.” At the same time, the court made it clear that Kokate cannot hold any office of profit during the pendency of the proceedings.
The order comes days after the Nashik sessions court upheld Kokate’s conviction and two-year sentence imposed by a magistrate in February this year. The trial court had found that Kokate and his brother had dishonestly induced the state government to allot flats to them, leading to their conviction in the cheating and forgery case.
With the Supreme Court’s stay, Kokate gets temporary relief from the immediate political fallout of disqualification, though the substantive challenge to his conviction will be examined after the state government responds to the notice issued by the court.
