HE JHARKHAND STORY NETWORK
Ranchi, Dec. 27: The Jharkhand High Court today set aside a public interest litigation (PIL) against Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his wife Kalpna Soren and other kin for the alleged allocation of stone mining lease and land.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjaya Kumar Mishra and Justice Ananda Sen delivered the judgement through virtual mode. Justice Mishra is set to retire tomorrow.
According to state government counsel Piyush Chitresh, the court dismissed the PIL filed by an RTI activist, Sunil Mahto, because the Supreme Court had earlier rejected a similar PIL filed by one Shiv Shankar Sharma.
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Mahto alleged a company owneBreaking: Jharkhand High Court sets aside PIL against CM Hemant Soren, kin. d by Kalpana Soren and her sister Sarla Murmu had been allocated 11 acres of land in 2021 in violation of the rules. Again, the chief minister, as mines minister, leased out 88 decimal stone mines to himself in the Angara block of Ranchi district, he added.
Mahto’s advocate unhappy
Former Advocate General Ajit Kumar, who appeared for Sunil Mahto, said that the judgement was first concluded and delivered hurriedly during a vacation in the high court. “I am unhappy with the state of affairs,” he said.
Kumar said Mahto’s PIL was distinctly different from the one filed by Shiv Shankar Sharma, who had raised only the mining lease issue. “On the other hand, there were several issues in Mahto’s petition. Also, he had submitted a detailed affidavit as to how this PIL was different,” he added.
