Clean chit to Vadra on land row

Chandigarh, 26 Oct 2012 (PTI): There has been no undervaluation of properties sold or bought by Robert Vadra or his companies in four Haryana districts, a probe ordered by whisteblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka is understood to have found amid a row over deals between Congress chief’s son-in-law and DLF.

 

The Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal and Mewat in NCR region had been asked by Khemka to inspect all documents registered from 2005 on behalf of Vadra or his companies in the capacity of vendor (seller) and vendee (buyer) and he had also cancelled the sale of over three acres land to realty major DLF.

 

The inquiries conduted by the DCs of the four districts have clarified on the basis of report of district revenue officials that there was no undervaluation in Vadra’s land deals, informed sources said here today.

 

The report will be submitted to three member Committee headed by Aditional Chief Secretary which was asked by state government to inquire into the issues raised by Khemka who was removed as Inspector General of Registration after he ordered a probe into all the land dealings of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law in the four districts of Haryana.

 

With the submission of the inquiry report by the DCs it will now become easier for the committee probing the allegations of Khemka to work further, officials said. The DCs in their reports have marked that Vadra had paid stamp duties in full on purchase or selling of lands in the NCR as per the Collector Rates prevailing then.

 

The registeries were done over and above the price of collector rates in the NCR by Vadra, the DCs have marked, according to the report. "In the four districts the stamp duties have been paid over and above the collector rates in around a dozen of registeries of land worth 100 acres done by Vadra," the sources said.

 

"All documents have been registered as per the collector rates for such deals by paying the stamp duty. No loss in revenue has been caused to the state exchequer in execution these deals," the report of a revenue official of Palwal district, copy of which is with PTI, states.

 

The opposition BJP and activist Arvind Kejriwal, who had demanded probe into Vadra-DLF dealings, were quick to trash the report . "That was expected. Country would be surprised if it were otherwise. In Haryana, all good officers are shunted out. Those in key positions crawl when asked to bend. Now Cong will protect Gadkari and BJP will protect Vadra," Kejriwal said.

 

BJP leader Rajnath Singh said there was no reason to belive in the findings. "You are talking about the Deputy Commissioners of the Government. Now if the allotment has been done by them only, how can say that it is wrong. So I feel that that there is no reason to believe in it," he told reporters in Kanpur.