Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, who is caught in an “office of profit” controversy around a mining lease, can look forward to some comfort.

One of the longest serving legal advisers with the Election Commission of India, S.K. Mendiratta, in an informal virtual interaction with select media houses on Friday, said owning of mining lease did not come under Section 9A of the Representation of the People Act 1951 for disqualification/dismissal for corruption or disloyalty.

He cited a Supreme Court ruling of 1964 and 2001 to back up his observation.

A war of words has broken out between the ruling JMM and the Opposition BJP over the mining lease in Ranchi’s Angara block that the Jharkhand government is said to have granted Hemant in 2021. The governor has sought the Election Commission’s opinion on whether it amounted to disqualification of Hemant’s Assembly membership.

S.K. Mendiratta. File photo

“As per Supreme Court rulings in the past, mining lease is not a business and is not a contract of supply of goods. Section 9A says that a person shall be disqualified if and for so long as they have entered into a contract in the state and business with the appropriate government for supply of goods. In the case of Kartar Singh versus Hari Singh versus Others case of 2001, a three-judge bench said that mining lease does not amount to execution of work undertaken by the government,” Mendiratta said.

Mendiratta, who completed his contract with the Election Commission of India in 2018 after 53 years of association, added: “Under Para 13 of the Supreme Court ruling says appropriate government has undertaken work such as laying of a road... or construction of dam and has entered into a contract for the execution of such work stands to be disqualified under Section 9A. The ruling also states that Section 9A does not operate to disqualify the lessee of a mining lease... mining lease is not the contract of the execution of works.”

Mendiratta, considered among advocates as an expert in Election Commission laws, said incidents like these happened in 1964, 2001 and 2006 but the decision of the Supreme Court was the same. “We all have to abide by the law of Supreme Court.”

Asked if the Jharkhand chief minister can challenge the Election Commission and the Jharkhand governor’s decision, Mendiratta said there had been instances in Karnataka and Delhi where public representatives had challenged the President of India and high court decision in the Supreme Court and got a favourable judgment.

Mendiratta, however, said the Election Commission was a quasi-judicial body and would take decisions after listening to the legal response of Hemant Soren in accordance with laws of natural justice.

BJP national vice-president and former chief minister Raghubar Das had in February accused Hemant, 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.

The BJP leader had alleged that Hemant’s application for a stone mining lease was granted by the Ranchi district mining office 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.

A BJP delegation had also met Jharkhand governor Ramesh Bais, urging him to disqualify Hemant from the Assembly in accordance with the provisions of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 for “misusing his official position” for personal gain.

Later on Friday, JMM Giridih MLA Suvidya Kumar and JMM central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya blamed the BJP for spreading rumours to destabilise a democratically elected government.

“The BJP is creating rumours to destabilise the elected government. However, it would not succeed. The chief minister would present his position before the EC. If the EC acts arbitrarily under the influence of the central government, we will knock on the door of the high court and the Supreme Court,” Suvidya Kumar said.

Bais forwarded the memorandum to the 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, the 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.

Sources said chief secretary Singh had last week sent all the documents pertaining to the mining lease to the ECI.