Relief for Vadra and Haryana CM as CAG calls off land scam probe

New CAG calls off audit on licenses for private land developers

Relief for Robert Vadra and Sonia Gandhi over Gurgoan deal allegations

In a sudden turnaround just days after the new CAG took over, the Haryana government got relief from an audit being conducted by it under orders issued during the tenure of the previous CAG.

The principal accountant general of Haryana was directed by CAG headquarters in New Delhi on June 3 to immediately discontinue the audit being conducted on licences issued to private developers in Haryana and, instead, focus on the procurement of pipes for the public health department and implementation of social welfare schemes.

There have been allegations leveled against Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, regarding a land deal in Gurgaon struck by his company, and against Haryana's town and country planning department, by IAS officer Ashok Khemka.

Relief: Robert Vadra (left) and Congress President Sonia Gandhi (right) will be relieved by the cancellation of the audit following allegations leveled against him over a land deal in Gurgaon



Probe: Senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka was transferred from Haryana's revenue department after he ordered a probe into Vadra's sale of 3.531 acres in Shikohpur village at Manesar to real estate giant DLF for Rs 58 crore

The audit began in March 2013. Moreover, these orders were received at a time when the principal accountant general's office had already been on the job for at least three months.



Access to documents pertaining to this development shows how the audit team was given little cooperation by the Haryana town and country planning department before the entire audit was finally shelved hurriedly.

A CAG audit was, in fact, sought by Khemka into grant of licences to develop private colonies to get to the bottom of the land scams in the state.

The discontinuation of the CAG audit of private developers will come as a huge relief for Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his government, says Anupam Gupta, advocate for Khemka.

"It is very unfortunate that the CAG, after ordering the audit, has arrested its conduct. This raises many questions with Vadra's shadow looming large over this entire exercise. The CAG owes an explanation to the nation," he said.



Perusal of the correspondence between principal accountant general Onkar Nath and the then principal secretary of the Haryana town and country planning department, S S Dhillon, shows the department gave the auditors very little coordination.

A letter written by Dhillon to Nath accessed by Headlines Today contains excuses made by the department - that an audit had already been done and that offices of the department were being shifted - in order to stall the CAG audit.



