Herald land case: ED issues provisional attachment orders
WHAT THE ORDER STATES Plot has been attached for a period of 180 days and the same shall not be transferred, disposed of, parted with or otherwise dealt with or without prior permission
ON SATURDAY, CBI HAD FILED A CHARGESHEET AGAINST EX-CM HOODA, SENIOR CONG LEADER MOTILAL VOHRA AND ASSOCIATED JOURNALS LIMITED IN THE CASE
CHANDIGARH: A day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a chargesheet against former chief minister (CM) Bhupinder Singh Hooda, senior Congress leader Motilal Vohra and Associated Journals Limited (AJL), in a case related to restoration of an institutional plot in Panchkula to AJL at old prices, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Chandigarh, issued a provisional attachment order for the controversial plot.
As per the provisional attachment orders issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, the ED investigations into the case concluded that the said plot is a crime proceed and is thus provisionally attached for a period of 180 days and the same shall not be transferred, disposed of, parted with or otherwise dealt with or without prior permission.
The plot was allotted to AJL in 1982, but the same was resumed back by the estate officer, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in October 1992 as the New Delhi-based private company, which was then run by Vohra, did not comply with the conditions of the allotment letter. The ED orders stated that Bhupinder
Singh Hooda, the then CM of Haryana and chairman of HUDA, had “blatantly misused his official position and dishonestly alloted the said plot afresh under the guise of re-allotment to AJL at the original rates in violation of necessary HUDA policy in 2005”.
Hooda has been accused of not
adhering to the legal opinion of Haryana’s legal remembrancer and recommendation of HUDA officers and financial commissioner of the town and country planning department. The ED orders also observed that the then CM thus caused a wrongful loss to HUDA and wrongful gain to AJL.
The provisional attachment orders maintain that Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not stop here but further favoured the AJL by granting them three undue extensions for construction of plot from May 1, 2008, to May 10, 2012, until the AJL completed the construction in the year 2014.
The orders also maintained that if the plot is not attached under Section 5 of the PMLA nonattachment of the same may result in frustrating further proceedings relating to confiscation of such proceeds of crime under the said act.