Haryana officer who executed mutation of Vadra land deal suspended

CHANDIGARH: Less than a month after coming to power in Haryana, the BJP government on Monday suspended an assistant consolidation officer (ACO) ,Dalbir Singh, who had executed the mutation of the controversial land deal between UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and real estate giant DLF in 2012. However, Singh has been suspended for alleged irregularities in another case of land mutation pertaining to Rozka Gurjjar village of Gurgaon district.
Sources said IAS officer Ashok Khemka had cancelled the mutation just days after its execution by Singh in the DLF case. However, he again legalized it in July 2014 by updating the revenue record.
Singh, who is reportedly related to a former minister of Haryana, remained posted in Gurgaon-Faridabad area for almost a decade, said sources.
State finance minister Captain Abhimanyu told the Times of India that they have suspended Singh after receiving a report from the Gurgaon deputy commissioner. On November 11, Singh was arrested by the state police in connection with another cheating case related to land deals, said sources.
The then director general (DG) of land consolidation department and inspector-general, registration, Khemka, had in 2012 set aside the mutation of Vadra-DLF land deal under Section 42 of the consolidation act, noting that ACO who had sanctioned the change of title in the revenue record, was not competent to do so.
However, a three-member panel of the state government in 2012 had termed his order as "without jurisdiction and inappropriate". The government kept sitting on Khemka's order for almost two years. In July, the government declared the deal legal after the ACO termed his superior officer Khemka's orders as "illegal", "void" and "out of jurisdiction". Sources said the action was taken after Hooda government had issued guidelines that ACOs were empowered to execute the mutations.
In 2012, Khemka had chargesheeted Dalbir Singh after he allegedly made a fraudulent entry in the land records of village Chirsi in Faridabad district, allowing an influential chartered accountant to take possession of 6.5 acres.
The deal
Vadra's company Skylight Hospitality had purchased around three acres in Shikohpur village of Gurgaon for Rs 7.5 crore in 2008. After some time, Haryana's town planning department had issued a letter of intent to set up a commercial colony on 2.71 acres of this land. In 2008, Skylight and DLF had entered into an agreement to sell the three acres to DLF for Rs 58 crore. Sale deed of the land was registered in favour of DLF in 2012. In 2013, the Haryana government chargesheeted Khemka alleging that he had wrongly cancelled the mutation.