Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Friday did not show up before the Justice (retd) S N Dhingra Commission probing the grant of licenses in various land deals in four villages of Gurgaon district involving Robert Vadra. This was the second time in a row that Hooda didn’t appear before the Dhingra Commission.—that is inquiring the grant of licenses to Robert Vadra and his company—Skylight Hospitality.
In regard to this case, the ex- CM’s lawyer Narender Hooda made an appearance before the commission—who summoned Hooda on March 17 as he headed the Town and Country Planning Department during the grant and the Change in Land Use (CLU) licenses for development of colonies and commercial complexes.
Vadra’s company purchased nearly 3.5 acre 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 cancelled the deal, terming it “illegal”.
However, Narendra Hooda said that the notice issued to the senior Congress leader was not clear about what kind of information the inquiry commission wanted from him and this was the reason that Bhupender Singh Hooda did not appear in the court.
Last month, the Commission 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.
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”.
On February 10, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said in Chennai that the one-man commission inquiring into the controversial land deals was likely to submit its report before June.