Headlines
Hooda government favoured Vadra in land deals: CAG
Chandigarh, March 25
The CAG has blamed
Haryana's previous Congress government led by then Chief Minister
Bhupinder Singh Hooda for showing undue favours to Robert Vadra, the
son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in his multi-million
rupee controversial land deal with realty giant DLF.
Vadra's
company, Skylight Hospitality, sold a prime 3.5 acre piece of land in
Manesar in Gurgaon district to DLF in 2008 for Rs.58 crore. The land
had, however, only cost his company around Rs.15 crore and was sold to
DLF after obtaining change of land use (CLU) and other permissions from
the Hooda government.
The Comptroller and Auditor General report,
tabled in the Haryana assembly on Tuesday, said that the "possibility
of extending undue benefit to particular applicant (Vadra's company)
cannot be ruled out". It has also questioned the "distinction" made by
the Hooda government for Vadra's company in giving permissions.
The Hooda government, on its part, had obliged Vadra with quick sanction of the permissions required.
Senior bureaucrat Ashok Khemka had ordered the scrapping of the land deal, saying that it was illegal.
The
controversy became a national issue with opposition parties alleging
that the then Congress government was doing everything to help Vadra in
his controversial land deals in the National Capital Region (NCR)and
areas around Delhi.
Vadra had bought land in four districts of Gurgaon, Palwal, Faridabad and Mewat in Haryana adjoining Delhi.
Alleging
that Vadra's land deals caused loss of crores of rupees to the state
exchequer, Khemka marked a probe into all land deals of Vadra and his
companies since 2005. But the Hooda government gave Vadra a clean chit
and instead charge sheeted Khemka for his actions.