Haryana govt to cancel Robert Vadra's land rights

The Haryana government has begun the process of cancelling the licence given to Robert Vadra's Sky Light Hospitality to develop land that was later transferred to realty major DLF for Rs 58 crore, officials said on Thursday.

Director of the state's Town and Country Planning Department K M Pandurang said the procedural formalities to cancel the licence has been completed keeping in with provisions of the Haryana Development and Regulation and Urban Areas Act, 1975. The formalities include serving notices on the coloniser and giving it an opportunity to be heard.

"We have to follow the procedure of cancellation which we are following and the formalities have been completed. We gave them notice and hearing opportunity, which has concluded. Now, we have to take a decision and that process is on," he said.

Pandurang said the mutation of the land was set aside by the then director-general, consolidation of holdings in 2012, thus affecting the title of the land.

"There were issues regarding the title of the land," he said.

Notably, 1991-batch IAS officer Ashok Khemka had shot to limelight in 2012 when he cancelled the mutation of the land deal between Skylight Hospitality and the DLF.

A year ago, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar while responding to a question on the issue, said the licence of the piece of land in Gurgaon's Sector 83 which was sold Skylight Hospitality and then transferred to DLF was "deemed to have lapsed".

The licence for the land parcel had not been renewed, Khattar had then said.

The BJP has alleged there were irregularities in the land deal involving Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, during the term of the previous Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in the state.

The 3.5 acres were alleged to have been bought for Rs 7.5 crore by Vadra's company and later sold to DLF for Rs 58 crore after getting a licence to develop a colony.