CBI vs CBI: Illegal release of Haryana land among charges against Alok Verma

NEW DELHI: Among a dozen cases raised by CBI special director Rakesh Asthana accusing director Alok Verma of various irregularities is a land deal involving the erstwhile Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government in Haryana.

Asthana, in a complaint given to the cabinet secretary on August 24, accused Verma and additional director AK Sharma of “liaising with” officials of Haryana’s town and country planning department as well as a real estate company to close an inquiry into the matter. An illegal gratification of Rs 36 crore was paid over this, he alleged.

The CBI had initiated a preliminary inquiry after the Supreme Court on November 1, 2017 ordered it to probe the acquisition of 1,400 acres of land around Gurgaon by the Hooda government in 2009. The case Asthana has referred to was related to this, where the CBI received a complaint of irregularities in the allotment of a piece of land.

ET has accessed the complaint given to the CBI director on May 7 this year. According to the complaint, which annexed file notings as evidence, the then director of town and country planning in Haryana overruled his predecessor to favour a real estate company for the allotment of the land. The reasoning was approved by the chief minister, Hooda.

The company in 2006 applied for commercial development on about 31 acres in Sector 62 of Gurgaon. The application was made on the basis of a draft development plan of Gurgaon, which was yet to be finalised by the state government at the time.

After the finalisation of the development plan in 2007, around 13 acres of the land fell in residential area, the licence for which as per rules could not be granted, it was alleged. The realtor, however, applied for licence for this as well, seeking to consider it as a “special case”.

The then director of town and country planning in August 2008 rejected the application and ordered to refund the licence fee of Rs 19 crore paid for this land. The complainant claimed that the order was approved up to the level of the chief minister on June 19, 2009. However, on June 29, 2009, orders were passed to put the refund on hold.

The complainant alleged that the fate of the licence changed after a new director took over at the department.

The complainant alleged that the real estate company that received licence to develop the land was a “front” of a top IAS officer.