Ranchi, Apr 3 (IANS): The Jharkhand High Court on Monday issued notice to the state government and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) while hearing a PIL in the matter of allotment of mining lease in the name of Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his relatives.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra, sought answers from both in the matter and has fixed the next hearing on May 1.

The PIL has been filed by advocate and RTI activist Sunil Kumar Mahto.

During the hearing, Advocate General Rajeev Ranjan, on behalf of the state government, questioned the maintainability of the PIL and said that it was not worth hearing.

Ranjan stated that in a similar case, the order passed by the division bench of the high court against Soren and others in the PIL filed by Shiv Shankar Sharma and others, has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.

He added that the same issue should not be raised again in the petition.

Appearing on behalf of the petitioner, advocates Vinod Singh and Vishal Kumar told that Soren had misused his constitutional position while holding the post of Minister of Mines and had allotted mining lease to himself, his wife, and his sister-in-law.