File picture of industrialist and former Congress lawmaker Naveen Jindal.
A special court has summoned several accused in the coal scam - among whom are Industrialist Naveen Jindal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda.
The court has also summoned former minister of state for coal Dasari Narayan Rao, former coal secretary HC Gupta and 11 others -- including five firms.
The next hearing in the Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block allocation case is on May 22, when the accused are expected to be present in court.
All accused have been named in the chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation regarding the allocation of Jharkhand's Amarkonda Murgadangal coal block to Jindal Steel. The company has denied the allegations, claiming there has been no irregularity in the allocation.
The massive irregularities in allocation of coal blocks came to light in 2012 after the national auditor said Rs 1.86 lakh crore had been lost as the blocks had been distributed without a transparent bidding process.
Most of these allocations have been made by the erstwhile UPA government. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singhm who had also been summoned in one of the cases, received a reprieve from the Supreme Court in April.
Last year, the Supreme Court declared nearly 300 coal licenses issued since 1993 as illegal. After coming to power, the Narendra Modi government has auctioned 32 coal blocks.