HC lists hearing for Shibu Soren's appeal in Lokpal matter on Tuesday

The Delhi High Court on Monday listed for hearing on February 20 the appeal by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Sibu Soren against an order refusing to interfere with the proceedings initiated against him by the Lokpal on the basis of a complaint by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.

On January 22, a single judge of the high court had rejected the former Jharkhand chief minister's petition against the Lokpal proceedings and the complaint.

A bench of Justices Rekha Palli and Sudhir Kumar Jain listed the appeal for hearing on February 20 after the senior counsel for the petitioner was stated to be appearing before another court when the matter was called and a request was made to take up the case after some time.

"Taking into account that the regular bench is not sitting today, list tomorrow," the bench said.

Subsequently, senior advocate Kapil Sibal appeared before the bench on behalf of Soren and said the complaint is also listed before the Lokpal on Tuesday

"It (appeal) will come in the supplementary list. It will come early," the court responded.

The single judge, in his order, had said that Soren's petition challenging the Lokpal proceedings as well as the complaint was "premature" and it was for the ombudsman to see if there was sufficient material to proceed further.

In the complaint made in August 2020, Dubey, the BJP Lok Sabha MP from Jharkhand's Godda seat, claimed "Shibu Soren and his family members acquired huge wealth and properties by misusing the public exchequer and have been grossly indulged in corruption".

The Lokpal had then directed the CBI to conduct a preliminary inquiry against Soren to ascertain whether there existed a prima facie case for proceeding in the matter.

The single judge had also rejected the senior politician's allegation of "malice" and asserted that the Lokpal, which is an independent authority, was yet to apply its mind to the material provided by the CBI.