RANCHI: Hearing of the petitions, pertaining to shell companies, mining lease allotted to CM Hemant Soren and MGNREGA scam, was deferred till May 24 at Jharkhand High Court after State Government sought time saying that it has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in Supreme Court which is likely to be heard on Friday.
The Court, however, said that after the perusal of the report submitted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), it has come to the conclusion that this is a matter of public interest, and hence, if any specific direction is not passed by the Apex Court on Friday in this regard, it will be ensured that hearing gets completed and an order is passed on Tuesday itself, which may be challenged further.
The division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice SN Prasad said that even though no stay order has been passed by the Supreme Court, following the judicial discipline, it will not pass any order till the matter is heard in the upper court.
“After going thought the sealed report submitted by ED, I hve found it to be a matter of paramount importance and related to public cause and if any specific direction is not passed by the Supreme Court in this regard on Friday, hearing will be completed on all matters and may pass an order on Tuesday, which may be challenged further,” the Court said. The matter will be heard next on Tuesday at 11 AM, it added.
Earlier the State counsel requested the Court to defer the hearing till the matter is heard in the Supreme Court.
“Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal informed the Court that the order passed by the Jharkhand High Court on May 17, has been challenged by State Government in Supreme Court which is likely to be heard on Friday and requested to defer the hearing till the matter is heard in the Apex Court,” said Hemant Soren’s Counsel Amritansh Vatsa. The court agreed to it and deferred the hearing till Tuesday, he added.
The ED during the last hearing had submitted a report on the action taken by it, but despite requests, the court refused to give a copy of it to the State Government, which has been challenged in the Supreme Court.
“This is a serious matter where the probe agency has been filing sealed cover documents in the Jharkhand High Court before the issuance of notice and without giving them to the other side,” complained Kapil Sibal in the Supreme Court.
Notably, the ED, in its submission before the court on Tuesday, said that prima facie it has been found during investigations that money laundering was done through shell companies and that it was being sent to top authorities.
Meanwhile, petitioner’s advocate Rajiv Kumar also filed an affidavit for making CBI a party in the case and the court against which, the State Government has been asked to file an affidavit before the next hearing. Kumar pleaded that the ACB did not fulfil its responsibilities properly, and hence, CBI may also be made a party to the case.
The Court, during the hearing, also raised questions over Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan filing the affidavit regarding the stone mining lease issued to Chief Minister Hemant Soren at Angara, given the fact that he is charge-sheeted in a criminal case under section 13 (1) (D) of the Prevention of the Corruption Act and whose passport was confiscated. Notably, the Ranchi DC is facing investigation for allegedly cutting six forest trees in 2015 at his official residence when he was DC of Koderma.
An FIR 18/2015 was lodged at Markaccho police station and the case was transferred to the Anti-Corruption Burau. “I have come to know through media report that he is an accused in a criminal case.
Then how the state allowed an accused charge-sheeted by the court to file an affidavit in this matter,” observed the Court.