Hemant Soren is in the throes of an “office of profit” controversy centred around a mining lease the Jharkhand government is said to have granted him in 2021 with the Election Commission of India taking cognisance of Opposition BJP’s complaint that the Jharkhand chief minister had received undue benefits on account of his official position.

Hemant’s party, the JMM has denied the accusation, saying the Opposition’s charge was unsubstantiated. “Office of profit comes into force if there are any financial dealings. The said mine was inoperative and was also surrendered,” claimed JMM central spokesperson Supriyo Bhattacharjee, referring to the allegations levelled by BJP leader and former Jharkhand chief minister Raghubar Das in February.

The BJP accuses the chief minister, who also looks after the Jharkhand mining department, of having granted himself a mining lease for stone quarrying in about 88 decimal land in Ranchi’s Angara block in July 2021. According to the BJP, Hemant’s application for a stone mining lease on plot number 482 was pending for the last 13 years, but the district mining office in Ranchi granted him the lease on July 10, 2021.

The BJP is calling the allotment a violation of the provisions of the People’s Representation Act as the district mining office reports to the state mines department of which the chief minister is in charge.

Bhattacharjee said the land in Angara, cited in The BJP complaint, was owned by the Sorens since 2008, and that Hemant had surrendered the mining lease granted by the government. “All the details of the land and mines were furnished by him (Hemant) in his election affidavits since 2009. As far as the stone mine is concerned, it never came into operation,” he added.

Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi earlier this week The Telegraph Picture

Based on Das’s allegations, the BJP had submitted a memorandum to Governor Ramesh Bais urging him to disqualify Hemant from the Assembly according to the provisions of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 for “misusing his official position” for personal gain.

Bais forwarded the memorandum to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to seek its opinion on whether Hemant’s alleged actions came under the purview of “office of profit”.

On April 8, based on a memo sent by Raj Bhavan, ECI sought details from Jharkhand chief secretary Sukhdev Singh about the mining lease granted to Hemant. It also sought details on mines allotment made to Hemant’s brother Basant Soren.

Around this time, a PIL was also filed in Jharkhand High Court against the chief minister for having allotted himself a mining lease. In its affidavit in court in response to the PIL, the state government said that the allotment was a “mistake” and that the chief minister surrendered it the moment the matter came to his notice.

On Wednesday, Jharkhand governor met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah in Delhi. Although Raj Bhavan has maintained that the visit was a routine affair, speculation was rife in Ranchi through the day on Thursday about whether Hemant’s “office of profit” row came up for discussion.