The one-man commission enquiring into controversial land deals in Haryana, including those of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, is likely to submit its report before June, said the Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar on Wednesday.
Haryana Govt had in May last year appointed Delhi High Court’s Justice SN Dhingra (retd) to head the one-man commission to probe the grant of licences to Vadra’s company and other firms for developing commercial properties in Gurgaon’s Sector 83 and some other prime areas.
later, the State Govt had extended the term of Justice SN Dhingra (retd) Commission for a period of six months from December 8, 2015 to June 7, 2016 on the same terms and conditions. Talking to the mediapersons on the sidelines of business meet at Chennai on Wednesday, the CM said that the inquiry commission is supposed to give its report in June though it seems the commission will give its report before June. Khattar added that it is wrong to say that his Govt is going slow on the matter. “Neither is the government going slow in the matter nor indulging in vendetta,” he said.
Robert Vadra had last year termed the inquiry commission a “political witch-hunt and vendetta” launched against him by the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Haryana. Vadra and others were allegedly granted favours by the then Congress led Haryana Govt in securing licences to develop commercial properties in Gurgaon’s Sector 83. The Comptroller and Auditor General had pointed out that Vadra’s firm—Skylight Hospitality—had not submitted documents on financial adequacy. Despite that, the firm was granted a licence.
Notably, the scope of the Dhingra Commission inquiry was expanded in August last year and it was asked to probe the grant of all licences to colonisers and individuals in four villages of Gurgaon by the previous Congress government in Haryana led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The commission was asked to submit its report to the State Government as soon as possible, but not later than six months from the date of its first sitting. However, the commission work began after a delay.
The probe panel will recommend “measures to take corrective action to prevent loss of revenue to the public exchequer and also prevention of undue private enrichment at the cost of public exchequer in such cases in the future”. The role of officers in the grant of licences is also being looked into.