Dhingra Report: BJP Says Vadra Involved, Hooda Denies Undue Favour
Justice Dhingra, who left New Delhi for Chandigarh, told the media that he will submit the report on Wednesday.
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Ex-Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Tuesday said that the Justice SN Dhingra report on controversial land deals in Gurgaon are driven by “political vendetta” and that the government never “favoured” anybody while assigning land.
This comes after the one-man Justice SN Dhingra Commission of Inquiry set up by the Haryana government asserted that Hooda acted “contrary to law”. The panel probed land deals including those of Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, according to sources.
Irregularities in Land Deal: Justice SN Dhingra
Addressing a press conference, Justice SN Dhingra asserted that he has named “each and every person” who is responsible for the irregularities in the land deals.
According to Times Now, the Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not follow rules while assigning lands to firms, and deliberately allowed a “change of land use”.
Congress-BJP Blame Game Ensues
Reacting to the report, the BJP on Wednesday said that they will study the report and order further investigation. The party further said that it looks like Robert Vadra was involved in the deals.
Congress lashed out at the BJP government, saying that the report is a “sinister strategy, aimed to malign the Congress”.
It further questioned why Robert Vadra was never given a notice or asked for his version of the events. The Congress said that “principles of natural justice were not followed in the report.”
According to the Congress, the mere constitution of the Dhingra committee is prejudiced and a political vendetta.
Commission Set up by BJP
The commission’s term ends on Wednesday. It had been extended on 30 June for eight weeks by the Haryana government amid controversy over its legal validity.
The commission, set up by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in May last year, was asked to probe controversial land deals in Haryana, including the land deals of Vadra and his firms.
It was asked to probe the grant of licenses to Vadra’s company and other firms for developing commercial properties in Gurgaon’s Sector 83 and some other prime areas.
It was mandated to probe their subsequent transfer or disposal, allegations of private enrichment, ineligibility of beneficiaries under the rules, and other connected matters.
Vadra had termed the inquiry commission as a “political witch-hunt” launched against him by the BJP government in Haryana.
Vadra and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had been summoned by the commission, had refused to join the probe.
The scope of the Dhingra commission was expanded in August last year and it was asked to probe grant of all licenses to colonisers and individuals in four villages of Gurgaon by the previous Congress government in Haryana.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had pointed out that Vadra’s firm, Skylight Hospitality, had not submitted documents on financial adequacy. Despite that, the firm was granted a licence.
Earlier, Hooda had objected to setting up of the commission saying it was held “contrary to established rules and norms, without due cabinet approval and prompted by malice and political considerations”.
He had urged Haryana Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki “to revoke the Constitution of the Commission of Enquiry”.
The controversy around Vadra is based on a 3.5-acre plot in Gurgaon that he bought in 2008 for 7.5 crores and sold just months later for 58 crores to India’s largest real estate developer, DLF, which too has denied wrongdoing.
(With inputs from IANS.)
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