VIJAY DEO JHA
Ranchi, June 30: The Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday deferred hearing of PILs 4290/2021 and 727/2022 till Tuesday after hearing arguments of the petitioner, respondent and the state on the merit of the PILs.
However, Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan heading the division bench wished to conclude the hearing by today itself but following the request of Kapil Sibal he deferred the hearing. Kapil Sibal appeared on behalf of the state government assisted by Advocate General Rajiv Ranjan. Petitioner Shiv Shankar Sharma was represented by Rajiv Kumar whereas Minakshi Arora appeared for chief minister Hemant Soren who is respondent in both the PILs.
It is quite likely that the division of Chief Justice Dr. Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad will conclude the hearing on Tuesday.
The hearing started at 10.30 am and continued till 4.30 pm except for a lunch break for 45 minutes. During the hearing a counter affidavit was filed on behalf of the state and denounced all the allegations made by the petitioner. The court asked the petitioner’s lawyer whether he wants to file another counter affidavit against submission made by the state government. But Rajiv Kumar declined and said that the petitioner wished for early disposal of the PILs.
Kapil Sibal said the petitioner made wild allegations against the chief minister without having a prima facie evidence. He said that the petitioner citied a couple of cases of alleged fraudulent sale and purchase of some prime land in Ranchi and put the allegation on the CM which was unjust. He disputed the claim of the petitioner that 11 acres of land was allotted to a company Sohrai Livestock at Chanho for industrial purposes. The company is said to be owned by the CM’s wife Kalpana Murmu and sister-in-law Sarla Murmu. He said that land was allocated under the due process of law. He said that the petitioner suppressed other information like the land allotment to this company was canceled later on.
Kapil Sibal and Rajiv Ranjan who were jointly arguing for the state of Jharkhand alleged the petitioner for misleading the court. He referred to the case of Grands Mining Works LLP of Dumka MLA Basant Soren who is brother of Jharkhand CM.
The petitioner in the supplementary affidavit claimed that during the mining the company encroached upon the forest land and constructed roads in the forest area in Pakur. Kapil Sibal claimed that action was initiated against the company. He also accused the petitioner for perjury and said that they would move a petition against him.
The Chief Justice on this asked the date when the action was initiated. “You took action after this PIL was filed so you can’t say that the petitioner has made a wrong statement,” the Chief Justice observed.
Kapil Sibal and Rajiv Ranjan claimed that the petitioner filed PILs with some other motives and his allegation that information is denied by the respective departments under RIT is completely false.
On this the Chief Justice asked Kapil Sibal whether he was aware that the post of the chief Information Commissioner in Jharkhand is vacant. He said that the even Human Rights Commission is not functional in Jharkhand.
