VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, Aug 29: The advocate representing Basant Soren, brother of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, on Monday raised preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the Governor in referring a complaint against him to the Election Commission of India (ECI) for scrutiny.
Senior advocate Minakshi Arora representing Basant Soren said this during the hearing of the case by the ECI on Monday. The hearing continued for more than an hour. The ECI is yet to fix the next date of hearing. She stated that Basant Soren co-owing a company is a pre-election disqualification matter hence neither the ECI nor the Governor has any jurisdiction.
The ECI served a notice to Basant Soren under Section 9A of the Representation of the People’s Act. The section 9A deals with disqualification of a lawmaker for a government contract.
“A person shall be disqualified if, and for so long as, there subsists a contract entered into by him in the course of his trade or business with the appropriate government for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any works undertaken by, that government,” section 9 A reads.
The BJP lodged a complaint that Basant Soren suppressed information about his association with a mining company Grands Mining Works where he is one of the directors. Basant Soren said that in a pre-election matter like this the Governor has no jurisdiction.
The BJP claimed that Basant Soren holding the post of director of a company comes under the definition of office of profit.
The ECI is examining whether such public servants can be disqualified as a member of the house under Article 192 of the Constitution. Grands Mining Works is a Limited Liability Partnership firm incorporated on 17 February 2015. It is registered at the Registrar of Companies, Jharkhand. Designated Partners of this company are Bsant Soren, Narendra Singh, Suresh Kundlikrao Nagre and Bhupendra Kumar Singh. The company is based in Bokaro. Basant Soren is associated with two other companies also.
