Vadra pocketed large premium on colony license: Khemka

August 10, 2013

Vadra_pocketedChandigarh, Aug 10: Robert Vadra's land deals in a village in Haryana have returned to haunt the Congress party and its chief with whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka alleging that Vadra "falsified documents" for 3.53 acres of land in Gurgaon and "pocketed" large premium on a commercial colony license.

In his "voluminous reply" submitted to Haryana government's three-member enquiry committee set up in October last to look into Vadra-DLF deal, Khemka is understood to have alleged that Vadra, who is Congress President Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, executed a series of "sham transactions" for 3.53 acres of land in Shikohpur village of Gurgaon.

Vadra "pocketed" a huge premium on a commercial license through money that he could account for, Khemka alleged.

The IAS officer alleged that the Haryana's Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) "ignored rules and regulations to allow crony capitalists operating as middlemen to flourish and appropriate market premium of a license."

"The DTCP aided Vadra in making these sham transactions," he alleged.

Khemka, who submitted his reply on May 21, says that both the sale deed of February 12, 2008 through which Vadra's company 'Skylight Hospitality' bought land from 'Onkareshwar Properties' and Letter of Intent for granting a commercial license to his company issued by DTCP in March 2008 are "sham transactions" made to enable Vadra to collect market premium.

"If there was no payment as alleged in the registered deed, can it it be said that the registered deed conferred ownership title over the said land upon Skylight Hospitality by virtue of the sham sale," he questions.

Khemka, who had cancelled a land mutuation deal between Vadra and DLF last October, claims that "there was no promise to pay in the future in the registered deed."

No price was paid as claimed in the registered deed. The sale registered in the said deed cannot, therefore, be called a "sale" in true sense of the term, legal or moral and it cannot be said that Skylight

Hospitality became owner of the land in question by virtue of sale registered in the deed, Khemka is understood to have said in his report running into some 100 pages.

While Khemka's reply has gone public, the officer, on being approached by PTI here said, "I will not speak to the media on this issue."

Haryana Chief Secretary P K Chaudhary said, "We are examining the reply (by Khemka)".

The Haryana government's committee had earlier this year concluded that the orders passed by Khemka initiating an enquiry into Vadra's land deals were "without jurisdiction, inappropriate and not covered under any provisions of any statute or rules."

Besides, the committee also held that the order by Khemka cancelling the land mutation was improper.

Demanding a white paper on the transfer of all such licenses permitted in the past to expose the "loot of public wealth," Khemka writes that the DTCP had issued various types of colony licences for a total of 21,3666 acres in the last eight years of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government's tenure between 2005 to 2012.

He points that if the market premium for a colony licence is assumed to be as low as Rs one crore per acre, the land licensing scam in the past eight years is worth around Rs 20,000 crore.

"At the premium of Rs 15.78 crore per acre that Vadra earned, this figure would jump to Rs 3.5 lakh crore," he claims.

He alleged in the letter the DTCP permitted Skylight to transfer the license to DLF in April 2012 and the licensed land was finally sold to DLF on September 18, 2012.

"By allowing the transfer of license issued in the name of Skylight to DLF, the DTCP created a black market for trading in licenses where cronies are issued licenses which are later sold or transferred with permission of the authority for a fat consideration to the real developers," he writes.

On August 5, 2008 Skylight Hospitality entered into an unregistered collaboration agreement with DLF Universal.

Khemka observes that this led to loss of crores of revenue to the state exchequer due to a collaboration agreement of this kind has to be registered.

The opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has demanded a probe into the reply by Khemka by a sitting judge of the High Court.

INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who is also MLA from Ellenabad, said his party had thrice raised this issue in the Vidhan Sabha, but the Speaker always tried to suppress it.

"All such transactions are done by the Hooda government to appease Sonia," he alleged

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News Network
July 17,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 17: A gunman posted at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram allegedly attempted suicide on Friday, the police said.

"A gunman who was working at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram allegedly attempted to commit suicide today. He is currently admitted to a hospital. 

The police were searching for him after his relatives had filed a missing complaint on Thursday night. A case has been registered and a probe is underway," said Police.

The person is identified as Jayagosh. He is attached to the police Armed Reserve (AR) camp and was reported missing since last night. Later, his relatives had filed a missing complaint with the police.

Jayagosh was later found lying in a pool of blood near his house in Akkulam and was taken to the hospital.

A police investigation is underway and more details are awaited.

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Agencies
February 25,2020

New Delhi, Feb 25: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday told a meeting of Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and party leaders that "professional assessment" is that the violence in north-east Delhi has been "spontaneous".

He also said adequate forces have been already deployed in affected areas even as he urged political parties to avoid provocative speeches and statements which could flare up the situation and desist from rumour-mongering. He also instructed Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik to re-activate local peace committees. 

"Shah noted that the professional assessment is that the violence in the capital has been spontaneous. He expressed confidence in Delhi Police and said that the force has shown maximum restraint to get the situation under control," a statement issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

However, on Monday, government sources had claimed that violence in the national capital "appeared to be orchestrated" to coincide with the high-profile visit. A PTI report from Hyderabad on Tuesday also quoted Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy as saying that the violence in Delhi has been perpetrated intentionally and the Narendra Modi government would not tolerate such incidents. 

While Shah said adequate forces have been deployed, there were also reports that the Delhi Police Commissioner told MHA top brass that it did not have adequate forces to control the violence that erupted in north-east Delhi. However, Delhi Police later tweeted that the Commissioner has denied that "no such information was given to MHA" and such reports were "totally baseless". 

Urging parties to avoid provocative speeches and statements which could flare up the situation, the statement said, Shah expressed confidence in Delhi Police and said that the force has shown maximum restraint to get the situation under control.

Appealing to all to maintain restraint and desist from rumour-mongering while instructing the Delhi Police Commissioner to re-activate local peace committees, Shah said Delhi's borders with Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have been under surveillance for the last three days. 

Shah also urged parties to ask their local leaders to hold meetings in sensitive areas and instructed senior police officers to visit vulnerable police stations at the earliest

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News Network
May 10,2020

Kochi, May 10: A total of 698 people who were evacuated from Maldives on INS Jalashwa, arrived here on Sunday around 9.30am (India time), said the Cochin Port officials. This operation is part of Indian Navy's 'Operation Samudra Setu'.

Another 121 from Lakshadweep also arrived at Mattanchery, near here. on MV Arabian Sea - a passenger/cargo ship sailing under the Indian Flag.

Samudrika Cruise Terminal has been opened up for handling the expatriates and Port has taken up necessary refurbishments consistent with the medical protocols.

The Cochin Port Trust officials said the first group of 698 persons evacuated from Maldives comprises 595 males and 103 females. Of this, 14 are children below 10 years and 19 pregnant women.

Among the 698 passengers, 440 are from Kerala, 156 from Tamil Nadu and the rest are from various states in the country.

Ernakulam district collector S. Suhas said all those from Tamil Nadu will be sent to their state in the bus.

The ship is berthed at BTP Jetty and the disembarkation procedures are being carried out at Samudrika Cruise Terminal. It will take around three hours for all the passengers to be cleared.

According to the protocols, all the Keralaites will be sent for 14 days institutional quarantine at their respective home districts.

Those who are having exemption from institutional quarantine have to be at home isolation.

Among the 121 who arrived on MV Arabian Sea from Lakshadweep include students and those Keralaites who work in the island.

The protocol for these 121 passengers is that since they have been checked there, all these people can go to their homes and be in isolation for 14 days.

The general guideline is if any one shows any symptoms of Covid-19, all such people will be directly sent to Covid hospitals, here.

The distance between Male and Kochi is 493 nautical miles and it began its voyage to Kochi on Friday evening.

INS Jalashwa is an Indian naval ship attached to the Eastern Naval Command. It was acquired from the United States and was commissioned in 2007.

INS Jalashwa has the capacity to accommodate 1000 troops, and comes equipped with extensive medical facilities, including four operation theatres, and a 12-bed ward facility.

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