New Delhi: In the ongoing Jharkhand mining case against CM Hemant Soren, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Jharkhand HC to consider the issue of the maintainability of the petition first and then proceed in accordance with the law pertaining to the mining lease and shell companies owned by Soren. A vacation bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Bela M Trivedi noted that the High Court had itself in its order of May 13 said it would first decide the maintainability of the PIL filed by one Shiv Kumar Sharma and then it will go into the merit of the allegations levelled in the petition.
"We are of the view that the High Court would first deal with the preliminary objections on the maintainability of the writ petition and then proceed further in accordance with the law, the bench said. The top court also made it clear that it has not made any observation with regard to the merit of the case and has not dealt with the allegations levelled in the petition.