VIJAY DEO JHA/RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, April 8: The Jharkhand High Court on Friday issued a notice to chief minister Hemant Soren for allegedly misusing his position as the chief minister of Jharkhand to secure the lease of stone mining at Angara block in Ranchi.
“It seems nothing is right in the mining department,” Jharkhand High Court Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan observed while passing the order. A division bench of the Chief Justice and Justice Sujeet Narayan Prasad passed the order while hearing a PIL filed by Shiv Shankar Sharma.
Senior lawyer Rajeev Kumar who represented the petitioner said that the court directed Hemant Soren and the state government to file affidavits separately to explain the matter.
“Hemant Soren as leasee has to explain how he secured the lease as minister of that department and chief minister of Jharkhand. This is a case of the conflict of interest and misuse of the official position. The state government has to explain how the lease was granted,” Rajiv Kumar said.
However, Advocate General Rajiv Ranjan pleaded that the state sometimes also errs in taking a decision. He said that the lease issued in the name of the chief minister was surrendered. But the court was not impressed with this contention of the state. Earlier, the government claimed that it was an old mining lease. But the petitioner filed an interlocutory petition and claimed that it was a fresh mining lease.
”Deputy Commissioner cum District Magistrate, Ranchi passed an order granting Letter of Intent for grant of fresh mining lease of stone minor mineral in the name of single applicant Sri Hemant Soren vide order dated 15.06.2021 by overlooking the mandatory requirement of Rule 69 of Jharkhand Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2004 wherein he was under statutory obligation to assess for damage and compensation committed by the earlier mining lessee who was also Hemant Soren,” the petitioner said.
This may land Hemant Soren in a serious legal problem since he also holds the mining department and the court besides noticing him also made serious observations on the functioning of the department.
This is not the only trouble Hemant Soren and his government may face in the coming days. The court directed the state government to file an affidavit within two weeks on the complaint of the petitioner’s lawyer that he was threatened by Ranchi DC Chhavi Ranjan with dire consequences if he pursued the mining lease case against CM. Rajiv Kumar said that Chhavi Ranjan had called him at his official residence and said that CM House was annoyed with him and he may face consequences.
“This is a serious matter. He has said that he was threatened,” the court observed. On this, the Advocate General said that Rajiv Kumar was trying to scandalize the issue. But the court declined to accept the contention of the Advocate General. The court pointed out that on many occasions in the past this court dismissed the petition of Rajiv Kumar if the same was without merit.
In this matter also the court directed the state government to file a counter-affidavit.
