NEW DELHI, Feb 3: A special court in Ranchi on Saturday allowed former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren to participate in the vote of confidence in the Champai Soren ministry in the state Assembly on February 5.
Mr Hemant Soren who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a money laundering case on January 31 minutes after he submitted his resignation as the chief minister, filed a petition before the special PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) court, seeking permission to participate in the trust vote sought by the new government. He was remanded to the ED custody for five days on Friday.
Mr Soren pleaded before the court that he was a member of the Assembly and has a right to participate in the special session. “Applicant (Soren) is, therefore, filing the present Application seeking an order from this Hon’ble Court to permit the Applicant to attend the Special Session of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly and participate in the proceedings of the Floor Test slated for February 5 at 11 AM,” the petition said.
The new government led by Champai Soren has sought the floor test to prove its majority in the House. He took over as the Chief Minister after Hemant Soren was arrested.
Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan said the ED vehemently objected to the petition. “We said now the cat is out of the bag, and the purpose of the ED is not to do any investigation but to scuttle the formation of a new government or to bring down the government. They have no business to object to proceedings of the assembly when he is not interfering with the investigation. Therefore, the court has accepted our petition and our petition has been allowed,” he said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
