Supreme Court agrees to hear pleas of Jharkhand Govt, CM against HC order on PILs for probe into graft charges
Jul 27, 2022
New Delhi [India], July 28 : The Supreme Court on Thursday will hear a plea of the Jharkhand government and Chief Minister Hemant Soren against an order of the High Court which had accepted the maintainability of PIL in connection with shell companies allegedly related to Soren and his associates.
A Bench of Chief Justice N.V. Ramana and Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli took note of the submissions made by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared in the court on behalf of the Jharkhand Government, that the matters need an urgent hearing and they have not been listed so far, despite an assurance given by the court on July 18.
The Jharkhand government has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the apex court challenging the Jharkhand High Court's order on the maintainability of PIL in connection with shell companies allegedly related to state Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his associates.
On June 3, Jharkhand High Court held two PILs against the Chief Minister and rejected the arguments made by senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi (questioning the maintainability of the two PILs filed against CM and his associates) in its 79-page judgement.
Rejecting the objections point-by-point, the High Court had said that because some of the requirements as per the rules 4, 4-B and 5 of the Jharkhand High Court (Public Interest Litigation) Rules, 2010 have not been followed and the instant writ petitions cannot be held to be not maintainable.
"This Court, after considering the aforesaid aspect of the matter and taking into consideration the fact that the issue which is the subject matter of writ petition-- since it involves the issue of siphoning off huge public money, having the public interest at large, therefore, this Court deems it fit and proper not to throw the writ petition on that ground," the Jharkhand's HC order copy stated.
In its conclusion, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad said, "This Court, after having answered the issue, as framed by this Court, and on the basis of discussions made hereinabove, is summing up its view and is of the considered opinion that the writ petitions cannot be thrown away on the ground of maintainability."
The Jharkhand High Court had been hearing various petitions pertaining to shell companies, the mining lease of Chief Minister Soren and the MGNREGA scam.
