Delhi High Court stays Lokpal proceedings against JMM chief Shibu Soren in disproportionate assets case

The Delhi High Court on Monday stayed the Lokpal of India's proceedings against Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief and Rajya Sabha MP Shibu Soren in a disproportionate assets case [Shibu Soren v Lokpal of India & Anr]. .Single-judge Justice Yashwant Varma stayed the proceedings and issued notice to Lokpal as well as BJP MP Nishikant Dubey. The court has directed them to file their responses by December 14 when the case will be taken up next. .Soren has approached the court challenging the proceedings before Lokpal and its orders dated August 4, 2022 through which proceedings were directed to be initiated to determine whether a prima facie case exists to proceed against him.The plea argued that this order has been passed without considering Soren’s objection that no inquiry can be conducted against him because the complaint has been filed more than seven years after the alleged incident and Section 53 of the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013 debars such investigation after expiry of the limitation period. .The plea further said that proceedings before Lokpal have been registered pursuant to a complaint dated August 5, 2020 and although the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) commenced preliminary enquiry sometime in July 2021 against Soren, his wife and their children, no copy of the Complaint dated was provided to the Petitioner till the end of February 2022, the petition stated.Soren has also challenged the Lokpal’s order of September 2020 through which the Lokpal directed CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry against Soren and submit a report..The allegations against Soren are that he has over a period of more than 10 years amassed huge wealth, properties and assets by adopting unscrupulous and corrupt means in the State of Jharkhand. The assets, it is alleged, is not only in his own name but even in the names of his family members including sons, daughters, daughter-in-law, friends and various companies in various districts of Jharkhand, such as Ranchi, Dhanbad and Dumka etc. and having taken cognizance of the Complaint, directed a preliminary enquiry to be conducted..The JMM patriarch has termed the allegations and complaint mischievous, false, frivolous and motivated and a rambling yarn spun by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.“No instance of even a single specific purported act of corruption is alleged in the Complaint. The Complaint is devoid of any particulars whatsoever and is a rambling yarn spun by the Respondent No.2, (Nishikant Dubey) a disgruntled and unsuccessful political opponent of the Petitioner and his party which has formed the Government in the State of Jharkhand pursuant to the Assembly elections held in 2019,” the plea said..The petition has been filed through advocates Pallavi Langar and Vaibhav Tomar and argued by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal.