PMLA court rejects Soren’s plea seeking permission to attend budget session
Advocate general (AG) Rajeev Ranjan, appearing for Soren, had argued that he deserves permission as earlier on February 3, the court had allowed him to participate in the floor test on February 5
Ranchi: The Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) special court in Ranchi on Thursday dismissed a plea filed by former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren seeking permission to participate in the forthcoming budget session of the Jharkhand assembly scheduled from February 23.
A civil court lawyer said the court order in this regard came in the afternoon.
“Petition has been rejected. I have yet to procure the copy of the detailed order,” Soren’s advocate Pradeep Chandra said.
The court had reserved the judgment on Wednesday after an argument from both sides in the matter.
Advocate general (AG) Rajeev Ranjan, appearing for Soren, had argued that he deserves permission as earlier on February 3, the court had allowed him to participate in the floor test on February 5.
Ranjan also submitted that earlier Bharatiya Janata Party legislators Dhullu Mahto and Nalin Soren were granted permission to participate in the assembly under similar circumstances. He said that “in the budget session money bills are introduced and after debate of bill voting takes place.”
Enforcement Directorate’s advocate Zoheb Hussain, virtually appearing in the court from Delhi had opposed the petition, saying that the constitutional right of a person in judicial custody gets suspended and that the “trial court is not supposed to give any order in this matter”.
There should be no separate yardstick to grant permission to exercise constitutional rights otherwise a government official in judicial custody may also say that his presence in the office is a must as there are important meetings in which he is supposed to take important decisions, Hussain argued.
Soren was arrested on January 31 by the ED in an alleged money laundering case. Since his arrest, he remained in the ED’s remand for 13 days during which he also participated in a trust vote on February 5. Currently, he has been remanded to judicial custody at the Birsa Munda Central Jail until February 22.
