The Supreme Court has been moved by the State of Jharkhand assailing the High Court’s order of accepting the maintainability of a PIL and seeking independent probe against CM Hemant Soren. Allegations of money laundering through shell companies had been levelled against the Jharkhand CM.
The vacation bench of Justices A.S. Bopanna and Vikram Nath on Tuesday were approached by the State Government of Jharkhand and were told to mention it before the registrar.
“This is on behalf of State of Jharkhand, assailing the order of June 3, directing the High Court to decide on the maintainability of the PIL based on the rules. The urgency is that the High Court is proceeding with the PIL,” state’s counsel had submitted.
“Go to the Registrar. Just give the details. They’ll move & take orders. There are 2 benches, the CJI has to take a call,” the bench said.
The Jharkhand government had moved to the Supreme Court against the
Jharkhand High Court order holding that the PIL filed against Chief Minister
Hemant Soren over alleged money laundering charges is maintainable.
The Jharkhand CM is said to have several shell companies through which the
money laundering is channeled and the PIL is on this. The Jharkhand High Court
rejected the arguments made by Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Mukul Rohatgi
questioning the maintainability of the PILs filed against Soren and his
associates in its 79-page order.
The High Court in its order has mentioned what objections were raised by the
respondent’s lawyers:
a) PIL was not filed with the rules framed by Jharkhand High Court.
b) Petitioner has not furnished the credentials as required by the court.
c) The writ petition is filed with malafide intention since there is grudge
that petitioner holds against the father of Hemant Soren(Shri Shibu Soren who
served Jharkhand thrice as CM)in an old case.
d) The writ petitioner directly rushed to high court without using any
remedy under he Code of Criminal Procedure.
This order was passed after the Supreme Court bench of Justice D.Y.
Chandrachud and Justice Bela M. Trivedi had directed the Jharkhand High Court
to view the maintainability of the issue first.
The Apex Court asked the High Court to decide on the maintainability of the
PIL when the Jharkhand Government had moved a plea seeking a copy of the sealed
cover submitted by the Enforcement Directorate in the HC.