Supreme Court disposed of Soren's petition in money laundering case, gave this reason
Supreme Court: A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Dutta said that the petition has become useless as the High Court has given its verdict on May 3 and Soren has already challenged it in the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court heard Hemant Soren's petition on Friday, the former chief minister of Jharkhand. In it, he asked the High Court to rule on his appeal against being detained by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering case.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said the petition had become infructuous as the High Court had delivered its verdict on May 3 and Soren had already challenged it in the Supreme Court.
Soren had also requested for interim bail to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections till the High Court decides on his plea against his arrest. “This has become useless,” the bench told senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Arunabh Chaudhary, appearing for Soren.
Sibal said Soren's special leave petition (SLP) challenging last week's high court verdict is coming up for hearing before the apex court on May 13.
He said that both petitions should be heard together on May 13. However, the bench said that Soren's counsel can raise all the arguments in the SLP which will come up for hearing on May 13.
Sibal said, “Forget that he is a former Chief Minister. I (Soren) have the right as a citizen that the High Court should be impartial. Disposing of Soren's petition, the bench said, "You have challenged the order of the High Court in another petition. You argue there only."
The apex court had on April 29 said that the High Court has to pronounce its verdict on Soren's petition challenging his arrest in the case. The High Court had reserved the order on February 28.