Jharkhand HC Issues Notice To Chief Minister Hemant Soren For Owning Mining Lease

The Jharkhand High Court has issued a notice to Chief Minister Hemant Soren for owning a mining lease in Ranchi's Angara block, while also holding the portfolio of the mines minister.

The notice to the CM and the state government was issued on Friday by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Dr Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad, while hearing a petition filed in this regard by a person named Shiv Shankar Sharma.

The PIL alleged that Soren's action is violative of the constitutional principle of not holding an office of profit while being in office.

All is not well in the mines department, the Bench said, issuing the notice to the state government through Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan.

Sharma's counsel Rajeev Kumar also claimed in court that Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Chhavi Ranjan has threatened him of dire consequences for pursuing matters against influential people.

Earlier in February, a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court, seeking a CBI probe into an alleged nexus between the state's mining department and the chief minister in granting stone mining lease in Angara block of Ranchi district. Opposition BJP has been demanding Soren's resignation on moral grounds.

With PTI inputs