Just a day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi's controversial son-in-law Robert Vadra stated that a "political witch-hunt" had been launched against him, a BJP minister in the Haryana government said on Monday the government will "fix" him.
Haryana's outspoken Health and Sports Minister Anil Vij tweeted on Monday: "Vadra ne jo haasil kiya sab rajneeti ki badaulat hai, veh rajneetik purja hai. Jaanch se humara kuchh lena dena nahin, aayog sifarish karega toh thok jaroor denge (Whatever Vadra has achieved is due to political patronage. He is a political tool. We (Haryana government) have nothing to do with the inquiry. If the inquiry commission recommends, we will fix him)."
Vadra was quoted as saying the probe against him by the Haryana government was political vendetta and a witch-hunt.
The Haryana government, in May, had announced the name of retired Delhi High Court judge, Justice S.N. Dhingra, to head a one-man commission to probe the grant of licences to Vadra's company and other firms for developing commercial properties in Gurgaon's Sector 83.
An official spokesman said here the commission would also probe their subsequent transfer or disposal, allegations of private enrichment, ineligibility of beneficiaries under the rules, and other connected matters.
Vadra and others were allegedly granted favours by the Congress government in Haryana headed by chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in issuing licences to develop commercial properties in Gurgaon's Sector 83.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had pointed out that Vadra's firm, Skylight Hospitality, had not submitted documents on financial adequacy. Despite that, the firm was granted a licence.
The commission was asked to probe the circumstances under which licenses were granted, whether the said entities were eligible for grant of licenses as per the applicable laws and rules, whether the transfer of licenses by the original licensee within a short period of time to other entities was violative of laws and rules and whether the TCPD (Haryana town and country planning department) had contemplated the transactions with reference to the loss of revenue to the government.
The probe panel will recommend "measures to take corrective action to prevent loss of revenue to the public exchequer and also prevention of undue private enrichment at the cost of the public exchequer in such cases in the future".
The role of officers in grant of licences is also being looked into. Complaints against the grant of licences and the CAG report findings also form the basis of the inquiry.
