Relief to Hemant Soren as SC declares PILs against him in Jharkhand HC ‘not maintainable’

New Delhi, November 7

In a major relief to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the PILs filed in the Jharkhand High Court seeking probe against him for alleged money laundering were not maintainable.

A three-judge Bench led by CJI UU Lalit set aside the June 3 order of the High Court which had held as maintainable the PILs seeking a probe against Soren for alleged money laundering through shell companies and alleged irregularities in granting mining lease while he was in power.

The Bench—which also included Justice SR Bhat and Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia—allowed the appeals filed by Soren and the Jharkhand High Court against the Jharkhand High Court’s order accepting maintainability of the PILs.

“We have allowed these two appeals and have set aside the June 3, 2022, order passed by the Jharkhand High Court, holding that these PILs were not maintainable,” the Bench said.

Soren is accused of granting himself a mining lease as the state’s mining minister.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had on May 24 asked the Jharkhand High Court to first decide the maintainability of a PIL seeking a probe against Soren for alleged irregularities in the grant of mining leases and transactions of some shell companies allegedly operated by his family members.

Apprehending an order for a CBI probe against Chief Minister Hemant Soren by the Jharkhand High Court, the JMM-led Government had also moved the Supreme Court questioning the sealed cover proceedings by the high court.

On behalf of the state government, senior advocate Kapil Sibal had alleged that the petitioner has suppressed material fact that he has filed several PILs against Soren.

BJP national vice-president and former Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das had in February this year claimed Soren abused his position and granted himself the favour of a mining lease, an issue involving both the conflict of interest and corruption. He alleged violations of provisions of the Representation of People Act.