Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday did not appear before the one-man Commission of Inquiry
probing the grant of licences to some entities in Gurgaon’s Sector 83, including Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra’s firm.
The probe panel of Delhi High Court Justice SN Dhingra (retd) was set up in May 2015 to probe the grant of commercial licences to hundreds of private companies, including Vadra’s Skylight Hospitality and DlF.
Explaining Hooda’s absence, his lawyer Narendra Hooda claimed that the senior Congress leader had gone to collect details of the information required from him.
The commission had last week summoned Hooda to appear before it by March 25 to record his statement regarding the allotment of land to Skylight Hospitality and other private companies.
Security in and around the commission office in the Civil lines area here in Gurgaon tightened ahead of Hooda’s expected visit.
However, former Chief Minister’s lawyer Narendra Hooda told the media outside the commission office that the notice issued to the senior Congress leader was not clear about what kind of information the inquiry commission wanted from Hooda.
With Hooda failing to appear before the Justice S N Dhingra commission, the Inquiry Commission has said that the former Haryana Chief Minister has the liberty to do so, adding that it would draw its own inferences from the record available with it.
The commission also said that it does not have any specific complaint against Hooda, but had summoned him as part of the probe.
“Since he (BS Hooda) played a major role in grant
of licenses, as his concurrence was must for grant of
each and every license, the commission had summoned him,” the commission said in its order.
“He had all liberty to refresh his memory from the files which were to be put to him by the commission. Hooda instead of appearing before the commission has chosen to stay away from the commission,” it added.
The Commission had on March 17 summoned Hooda following which the senior Congress leader had claimed that nothing wrong was done during his tenure as the Chief Minister of Haryana, adding that allegations against him were politically motivated.
last month, the commission had summoned Haryana Chief Secretary Deepinder Singh Dhesi and officials of the private firms for recording of statements.
The commission earlier examined retired IAS officer and now member of Union Public Service Commission Chattar Singh, who was the Principal Secretary in the Chief Minister’s office during Hooda’s tenure.
Singh handled the files of the Town and Country Planning Department in
the CMO.
After the BJP Government in Haryana set up the probe panel, its scope of inquiry was widened on Justice Dhingra’s advice.
The Commission is expected to give its findings and recommendations with respect to the circumstances under which licenses for the development of commercial colonies were granted to a few entities in Gurgaon.
Vadra’s company purchased nearly 3.5 acres of land in the same sector in Shikohpur village on the Delhi-Jaipur-Mumbai National Highway 8 (nearly 43 km from Delhi) but later sold it to the DlF after completing certain formalities during the rule of Congress government headed by Hooda.
Senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka had cancelled the deal, terming it “illegal”.
On March 17, Hooda said the Manohar lal Khattar government’s action in ordering a probe into alleged land scam in the state was “politically motivated”.
Reacting to the summons, Hooda had lashed out at the BJP-led State Government, saying it would not achieve anything.
“Obviously, there can be no second opinion on this. Otherwise, why should there be a commission for one or two villages…Everyone knows who is their target, but they will not achieve anything,” the senior Congress leader had said.