VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 22: The BJP’s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday sent a letter to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to hold an audit and inquiry into the Jharkhand government allegedly hiring senior lawyers to defend chief minister Hemant Soren before the Jharkhand High court and the Supreme Court in the twin PILs.
In the letter addressed to the CAG Girish Chandra Murmu, the MP claimed that in the ongoing PILs and disqualification case before the Election Commission of India (ECI) there is no private lawyer engaged by Hemant Soren and his associates.
He claimed that the Jharkhand government hired the services of Kapil Sibel, Mukul Rohatgi and Pallavi Langar to defend Hemant Soren and others.
Nishikant Dubey said that Hemant Soren and others are private individuals and they are not the state government. He pointed that in the PIL 4290/2021 the allegation is that Hemant Soren and others parked unaccounted money in shell companies.
He said that the Jharkhand government does not own these alleged shell companies. Also, the chief minister doesn’t not owe these shell companies on behalf of the people of Jharkhand.
He argued that why the Advocate General of Government of Jharkhand and his team is arguing on behalf of Hemant Soren and his associates who are being paid from the Jharkhand taxpayers’ money? He said that it was wrong on the part of the state government to spend taxpayers’ money to protect these shell companies. He said that such expenditure without approval of the Jharkhand Assembly is wrong and the spent amount should be recovered from the Law department.
He raised the issue of the second PIL 727/2022 related to the allotment of stone mining lease which the chief minister allotted in his name. He said that in this case also Advocate General of Jharkhand is arguing for Hemant Soren. Nishikant Dubey said that in the matter of the office of the profit case being heard by the Election Commission of India the money of taxpayers is being spent as legal expenses to defend Hemant Soren.
