RANCHI: Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren has asked the high court to dismiss the petition that sought a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into a stone quarrying lease in his name, saying the petition was aimed at destabilising his government and that he had committed no wrong.
Soren’s affidavit, filed on Thursday in response to a public interest petition in February 2022, also questioned the credentials of the petitioner Shiv Shankar Sharma, saying he holds a “personal grudge” against him. The chief minister said Sharma’s father Dr Gautam Sharma tried to implicate his father and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha founder Shibu Soren in a murder case in 2006, in which senior Soren was eventually acquitted by the high court and the Supreme Court.
Apart from seeking inquiries by CBI and Enforcement Directorate into the mining lease, the petition also said the chief minister should be disqualified for holding an office of profit by virtue of holding the mining lease. Sharma’s lawyer Rajiv Kumar said the case, which was slated to be heard on Friday, was deferred by a division bench headed by chief justice Dr Ravi Ranjan.
Soren cited a parallel office of profit complaint filed against him which was being looked into by the Election Commission. The poll panel, which decides complaints of office of profit, has sought his reply by May 10.
{{/usCountry}}Soren cited a parallel office of profit complaint filed against him which was being looked into by the Election Commission. The poll panel, which decides complaints of office of profit, has sought his reply by May 10.
{{/usCountry}}“A mere comparison of the allegations contained in the petition submitted by the BJP and the allegations made in the present writ petition shows that both are similar and the handiwork of the same person. It is obvious that the controlling mind behind the petition to the honourable Governor and the present writ petition filed before this honourable court is the same,” Soren’s affidavit said.
“I say and submit that the petitioner is guilty of abuse of the process of law and the writ petition has been filed for extraneous considerations. I submit that the present writ petition be dismissed with exemplary costa,” it added.
Soren also cited the Supreme Court’s 2010 verdict in Uttarakhand Vs Balwant Singh Chaufal, saying in this ruling the top court had observed that courts should prima facie verify the credentials of a petitioner to entertain a PIL.
On the allegation against him, Soren said that the mining lease for a 0.88 acre (3,500 sq metre) parcel of government land on the outskirts of state capital Ranchi was originally granted to him on May 17, 2008, on lease for 10 years. To be sure, an Independent lawmaker Madhu Koda, was Jharkhand chief minister from September 2006 to August 2008 in a government supported by JMM and other parties such as the Congress.
Hemant Soren’s affidavit, filed through lawyer Kundan Kumar Mishra, added that he applied for renewal of the mining lease in 2018 but the application lapsed. It said he did apply for renewal “sometime in 2021” when Ranchi deputy commissioner invited fresh applications, and that the lease was granted to him subsequently as per the laid down procedures.
Arguing for dismissal of the petition, the affidavit said the mining lease, the subject matter of the present writ, was no longer in place on the date of filing of the writ petition. The petition was filed on February 16, 2022.