Somnath Chatterjee Vs State of Jharkhand (Jharkhand High Court)
Jharkhand High Court held that nature of allegations of disproportionate assets beyond known source of income, corruption and various illegal action against Hon’ble Member of Parliament cannot be said to be Public Interest Litigation. Accordingly, writ dismissed.
Facts- It is the case of the petitioner that this petitioner had approached this Court by way of a Public Interest Litigation seeking investigation into, inter alia, the disproportionate assets beyond the known sources of income of Shri Dhullu Mahto. After hearing the said PIL, this Court disposed of the same by an order dated 30.03.2016 observing that the authorities would carry out the necessary investigation into the petitioner’s allegations after giving an opportunity of hearing to Shri Dhullu Mahto.
When no action was taken by the investigating authorities/agencies on the petitioner’s representations/ complaints, he filed one Civil Miscellaneous Petition seeking status report of the investigation, if any, carried out as per this Court’s order dated 30.03.2016.
The Income Tax Department filed an affidavit dated 10.02.2020 stating that after preliminary investigation into the complaints of the petitioner, several income tax violations and a few benami properties were discovered. The affidavit further stated that necessary action as per the Income Tax Act had been initiated against Shri Dhullu Mahto and his associates and that the investigation into the benami properties was being carried out by the Benami Property Unit, Patna.
