The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday, 2 May, sent a notice to Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, asking him to explain why action should not be initiated against him for having a mining lease issued in his favour.
The ECI has observed that prima-facie, he has violated Section 9A of the Representation of People's Act. The section deals with disqualification of government contracts.
In April 2022, the Commission had contacted the Chief Secretary of Jharkhand and asked him to authenticate the documents related to the lease allotment.
The Commission has already started examining documents running 500 pages along with the details furnished to it by the Jharkhand government in the last week of April in connection with a stone mining lease allotted to Soren by the state authorities.
Section 9A of the Act says that a person shall be disqualified if, and for so long as, there subsists a contract entered into by him in the course of his trade or business with the appropriate government for the supply of goods to, or for the execution of any works undertaken by, that government.
On 28 April, Jharkhand Chief Secretary had submitted a set of documents related to the mining lease to the poll panel.
The ECI will examine the reply of the notice sent to CM Soren before taking a final view on the matter and sending the same to Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais.
Bais had recently referred the matter to the ECI under Article 192 of the Constitution. The provision authorises the Governor to make a decision on disqualification of an elected member based on the EC's opinion.
Background
In February 2022, Shiv Shankar Sharma, an RTI activist, had filed a petition on the CM obtaining stone chips mining lease in Ranchi in 2021.
The petition said that the high court, had been approached so that it issues an "appropriate direction to prosecute the Chief Minister Soren, who is the Minister of Department of Mines". CM Soren misused his office for getting the lease in his name, the petition alleged.
On 16 June 2021, the District Mining Office issued a Letter of Intent for obtaining the lease of 0.88 acre of area in Angara block of Ranchi. Later on 9 September, the CM reportedly applied for environmental clearance of the same, the petition said, adding that on 18 September, the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority gave the clearance.
A Jharkhand High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Ravi Ranjan and Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad issued a notice on 8 April to CM Soren seeking his reply on a petition filed against him for owning a mining lease in Ranchi district's Angara block.
Stating that the matter is "serious", a Jharkhand HC bench observed that the incident showed the pathetic state of affairs in the state's Mines Department.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)