NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the Jharkhand High Court's order, which had upheld maintainability of PILs against Chief Minister, Hemant Soren, in connection with charges of money laundering through shell companies and obtaining a mining lease to himself.
A bench of Chief Justice U U Lalit and Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Sudhanshu Dhulia provided relief to Soren.
Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia pronounced the order on behalf of the bench.
The judgement came on appeals filed by the Jharkhand government and Soren.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appearing for state government had questioned the conduct of the original petitioner, Shiv Shankar Sharma.
"How the High Court looked into the merits of the matter, despite the Supreme Court order which asked it to consider the maintainability first and how the Enforcement Directorate produced materials in a sealed cover without there being any incriminating evidence against Soren," Sibal had asked.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, on behalf of Soren, contended there was no prima facie satisfaction of the High Court in the matter.
On the contrary, Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) argued that the criminal petitions should not be thrown out on the technical grounds.
On August 17, the top court had stayed the proceedings before the High Court in PILs filed against Soren alleging money laundering through shell companies and irregularities in granting mining leases, including to himself.
On May 23, the top court had directed the High Court to first decide the maintainability of three PILs seeking CBI/ED investigation against Jharkhand CM Soren in relation to grant of mining lease, allegations of MNREGA scam and transfer of money into shell companies.
On June 3, the High Court had accepted the maintainability of the two petitions filed by Sharma, seeking inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) against the Chief Minister and his family members.
One of the PILs before the High Court sought direction to the ED to investigate 16 FIRs pertaining to alleged offences arising out of the disbursement of MGNREGA funds in 2010. The other sought a probe into the alleged transfer of money by the Soren family into certain companies. The third PIL sought sanctioning prosecution of the Chief Minister, for obtaining mining leases under his own name.
The Enforcement Directorate had earlier submitted that material recovered from IAS officer Pooja Singhal, after her arrest, showed direct linkage with political higher ups.
Singhal was the Secretary of the Department of Mines and Geology and the Managing Director of Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation Limited (JSMDC). On May 11, the ED arrested her and she was suspended by the Jharkhand government on May 12.
