New Delhi (The Hawk): Hemant Soren, the chief minister of Jharkhand, can now breathe a sigh of relief as the Supreme Court on Monday overturned a decision by the Jharkhand High Court that had supported the maintainability of a PIL demanding an investigation into Soren in a mining licence matter.
On August 17, the Supreme Court issued a stay of the Jharkhand High Court's proceedings regarding PILs filed against Chief Minister Hemant Soren accusing him of engaging in money laundering through shell companies and irregularities when granting mining leases. The Supreme Court also reserved its decision regarding arguments made by Soren and the state government challenging the maintainability of PILs before the high court.
"Order reserved...since the court is seized of the subject, the high court shall not proceed with writ petitions," said a statement from a bench led by Justice U.U. Lalit and including Justices Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia. The high court's decision to allow the maintainability of PILs calling for an investigation against Soren was challenged by the state government and the chief minister before the top court.
Today, Justice Dhulia granted the appeals made against the high court order by the state administration and Soren.
Senior attorney Kapil Sibal questioned the maintainability of the PILs during the hearing on behalf of the Jharkhand government, claiming that the petitioner did not file a FIR but rather went to the high court instead. Additionally, the PIL did not follow the Jharkhand High Court's PIL guidelines. Sibal stated that the high court made its decision regarding the maintainability before considering all of the papers.
The supreme court said that the chief minister had previously acquired these lands before to taking office and that it was not the case that the position had been abused to gain money. The chief minister's attorney, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, emphasised that the high court had not been satisfied in this case prima facie.
The Jharkhand High Court had declared in June that two petitions asking for a CBI and ED investigation into the chief minister in relation to the alleged irregularities in the granting of mining concessions and transactions involving some shell companies were maintainable. The state government and the chief executive challenged the high court's ruling in a petition to the supreme court.
PILs were brought against Soren and the members of his family. It has to do with a stone mining lease Soren gave himself in 2021 and gave up on February 4 of this year. The other PIL claimed that Soren and his family members had, through their accomplices, allegedly stored undeclared money in shell businesses.
(Inputs from Agencies)