The hearing of the mining lease case related to Chief Minister Hemant Soren was held in Delhi's Election Commission office on Thursday. SK Mendirta appeared on behalf of Soren. After hearing the side, the date of next hearing was fixed for August 5. In the last hearing, the BJP's advocate had presented his side for about two hours. In the matter, the BJP has complained to the commission demanding disqualification of Chief Minister as an MLA under the election laws. It is known that the hearing of this matter is going on in the Jharkhand High Court as well.
In the last hearing held on June 28, BJP's lawyer had sought disqualification of CM Soren's legislature under Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. This section is related to disqualification of public representatives for taking government contracts etc. BJP says that CM has violated the law; he is no longer eligible to hold the post.
It is to be known that after the Jharkhand Governor sent the matter to the Election Commission, the commission had issued a notice to JMM leader and CM under the said law in May. However, during the preliminary hearing, the team of lawyers for the Chief Minister had said that Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act does not apply in this case. In support of this claim, he also presented a Supreme Court judgment as a reference before the Election Commission. The Chief Minister had also sought relief from the Supreme Court in this matter, but the top court refused to stay the hearing of the case.
The Chief Minister landed in legal trouble after the BJP raised the issue of him having obtained a stone mining lease at Angara. The Chief Minister also holds the portfolio of the mining department and the BJP claims that this is tantamount to the office of profit and he is liable to be disqualified.
A PIL was filed by one Shiv Shankar Sharma and the BJP approached the Governor for action against him. The ECI had directed the Jharkhand chief secretary Sukhdeo Singh to submit all documents related to the mining lease.
The then Deputy Commissioner cum District Magistrate, Ranchi Chhavi Ranjan passed an order granting a Letter of Intent for grant of fresh mining lease of stone minor mineral in the name of single applicant Hemant Soren vide order dated 15.06.2021. It is alleged that it was done by overlooking the mandatory requirement of Rule 69 of Jharkhand Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 2004 wherein he was under statutory obligation to assess for damage and compensation committed by the earlier mining lessee who was also Hemant Soren.