The Supreme Court on Monday initiated an enquiry into a shady land deal involving Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren after a PIl accused him of purchasing tribal land in a district of which he was not a resident.
The court took a tough stand against such usurping of tribal land by the high and mighty and accused such political manoeuvring to be the cause for tribals turning into Naxals. The PIl filed by a political activist Ramesh Kumar Rahi cited Section 46 of the Chotanagpur Tenancy (CNT) Act which laid down that land in a particular district or police station area can only be sold or purchased by a tribal belonging to the same district or police station area.
This rule applied squarely to the land in question situated in Govindpur in Dhanbad district while Soren’s nomination form in the 2009 elections showed him to be a resident of Bokaro district. The apex bench of Justices KS Radhakrishnan and Vikramajit Sen ordered the Deputy Commissioner of Dhanbad to enquire into the matter and submit a report in two weeks.
Taken aback by the gross illegality practiced by those in power, the bench said, “Both respondents 10 and 11 (Hemant and his deceased brother Durga) are powerful people. They are taking away lands while the tribal people are becoming Naxals.”
Attorney-General GE Vahanvati, who appeared for the Jharkhand Government, argued that the petitioner had political interest in raking up the sale deed of 2007 at a time when elections were round the corner. The bench shot back, “Who else can bring up the case against such powerful personsIJ He was the Deputy Chief Minister of the State. These are powerful people who know how to brush things under the carpet.”
For the petitioner, lawyers Shubhro Sanyal and Rajeshwar Pandey, submitted that the petition was filed before the Jharkhand High Court in 2011 and it was wrong to allege any political motive. Although the petition was dismissed by the HC with a cost of Rs 50,000 in December last, the apex court refused to lose sight of the larger issue in question.
“We cannot turn a blind eye to the tribals who are suffering due to such manoeuvring by highly placed persons,” said the bench, even as it suspended the HC order imposing Rs 50,000 cost on the petitioner till further orders.
The petition by Rahi further revealed that to get the deal through, Soren had influenced the bureaucracy to favour him and those who opposed the move got transferred. The matter is expected to come up for hearing in mid-April.