India, Dec. 22 -- The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the conviction of former Maharashtra minister Manikrao Kokate in a 1995 cheating and forgery case to let him continue as a member of the Maharashtra assembly, but barred him from holding any office of profit.

A special vacation bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justice Joymalya Bagchi passed the order on a petition filed by Kokate, a legislator of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The bench issued notice to the Maharashtra government on Kokate's faction, adding that, "Meanwhile, the conviction of the petitioner shall remain stayed to the extent that there will be no effect of disqualification for him to continue as a member of the Maharashtra le...