HC agrees to hear plea for CBI probe into Vadra’s land deals

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a PIL seeking a court-monitored Central Bureau of Investigation probe into various land deals entered into by Robert Vadra firms and grant of licenses to change land use of agricultural plots purchased by his companies in Gurgaon in the northern Indian state Haryana.

A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Pradeep Nandrajog listed the public interest litigation (PIL), which also seeks a probe into land deals entered into by Skylight Hospitality Pvt ltd and its subsidiaries in Rajasthan, for hearing on 30 April.

The petition, which relies on a news report, has said that during 2009-2012, Vadra firms bought about 2,000 acres of land in Rajasthan for about Rs 10 lakh and within a week of the purchase, the central government offered tax sops to firms interested in investing in solar power sector in the area.

It has also sought quashing of a 3 June 2013, CAG order by which the ongoing audit and inquiry into the grant of colonization license during 2005 to 2012 to Skylight Hospitality Pvt ltd and other real estate firms in Haryana was stopped.

These deals have been central to the current political discourse with the BJP and Congress trading barbs on each other. Notwithstanding BJP’s assertion that there will be no witch-hunt if it comes to power, Uma Bharti has said that Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra will be in jail if NDA comes to power.