VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 23: The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday rejected the demand of lawyer of Hemant Soren to defer hearing of PILs against the chief minister till July 11. His lawyer stated that a SLP has been filed before the Supreme Court against the PIL and the hearing is likely to take place on July 11. The court fixed June 30 as next date of hearing.
The PIL is related to allegations against the chief minister and his family and associates for parking unaccounted money through some shell companies.
The court fixed June 30 as the next date of hearing.
The matter came to light when the senior Delhi High Court lawyer Minakshi Arora requested the bench to defer the hearing related to the merit of the PILs. She appearing on behalf of Hemant Soren, said that in PIL 4290/2021, the petitioner Shiv Shankar Sharma filed as many as seven supplementary petitions before the court. But none of the supplementary petitions was provided to Hemant Soren, hence, her client is unable to file a reply. In such a situation, the court can’t decide on the merit of the PILs.
The court on this pointed out that Mukul Rohatgi during the previous hearing never informed the court that supplementary petitions were not provided. To this, MInakshi Arora said that she was really not aware of the case with Mukul Rohatgi. When the court called the records, it was found that Amritansh Vatsa filed vakalatnama on behalf of Hemant Soren barely a few days back.
She further said that her client has filed a Special Leave Petition before the Supreme Court hence the hearing should be deferred till July 11. But the High Court declined to defer the hearing on the grounds of SLP being filed by the petitioner and the state government at the Supreme Court. The bench declined the request and said that the court was not inclined to hear the matter as per the convenience of the respondents.
Kapil Sibal appeared on behalf of the state government. He said that the petitioner has made allegations against the chief minister, his brother, wife and many close associates and the order of the court will have legal implications for them. He said that the court should hear all such persons also. But SV Raju appearing on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI said that such opportunities can’t be given at this stage. He said that such opportunities are given at the trial stage. SV Raju said that the hearing should not be delayed.
Earlier, the bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad hearing both the PILs expressed displeasure over lawyer Amritansh Vatsa not filing his vakalatnama during earlier hearings.
