The move came months after a special investigation team claimed that Vadra had prima facie evaded payment of t... Read More

CHANDIGARH: Three years after IAS officer Ashok Khemka cancelled the mutation of land deal between UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra's company and DLF, the Haryana government has issued a notice to Vadra seeking details of the transaction.

The move came months after a special investigation team claimed that Vadra had prima facie evaded payment of tax in the Rs 58 crore land deal even as his lawyer refuted the allegations. Gurgaon (west) excise and taxation officer-cum-assessing authority issued a notice to Vadra under the Haryana Value Added Tax (VAT) Act, 2003, on October 12.

The government said the license granted to Vadra's firm to develop a commercial project at Gurgaon was covered by the definition of word "goods" under the Act. "This license was sold by the company to M/s DLF for around Rs 58 crores, aside from selling land the company has also sold a license for huge consideration to the above buyer," mentioned the officer in the notice.

"The proceeds of the sale will, therefore, constitute sale price exigible to tax under the HVAT Act, 2003," mentioned the notice. Earlier in January, SIT, headed by senior IPS officer Shrikant Jadhav, had stated that the action against Vadra and his company Skylight Hospitality was warranted under the provisions of the Haryana VAT Act "for evading payment of tax due to the state".

However, Vadra's lawyer told the TOI that they had never violated any provisions of law nor avoided payment of any tax and had always conducted their business in accordance with and after complying with all applicable provisions of law. "Similar transactions have been conducted by numerous other parties but our clients are being singled out without any basis in law or fact or otherwise," he added.

"This quasi judicial notice has been widely leaked and circulated in the media by unknown persons. This is obviously yet another attempt to further harass and defame our clients as is being done for the past several years," he said.

