The Supreme Court on Friday declined to pass any interim orders in an appeal by the Jharkhand government challenging a High Court decision upholding the maintainability of a plea seeking CBI probe against Chief Minister Hemant Soren in a money-laundering case.
A Vacation Bench of Justices J.K. Maheshwari and Hima Kohli prima facie said the Jharkhand High Court ought to decide the matter and the top court should not be asked to entertain the case in a piecemeal fashion.
However, the Vacation Bench said the case would be posted before an appropriate Bench of the Supreme Court after the holidays.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the State government, said the case was politically motivated.
The State had moved the top court in appeal against the High Court order upholding the maintainability of the PIL petitions seeking investigation against Mr. Soren for alleged irregularities in granting mining leases and the transactions of shell companies said to be owned by his family members and close associates.
In its order on June 3, the High Court had concluded that the “writ petitions cannot be thrown away on the ground of maintainability”.
Prior to that, on May 24, the top court had asked the High Court to first hear the preliminary objections on the maintainability of these petitions.
The allegations in these petitions include the setting up of several shell companies to launder money siphoned off from different welfare funds meant for Jharkhand. They allege that Mr. Soren and several others were involved in the formation of these shell companies.
The PIL litigants had sought investigation by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the allegations of corruption, misuse of office and money laundering against Mr. Soren. Mr. Soren has strongly denied the allegations levelled against him.
