Dhingra panel hearing deferred to July 7

CHANDIGARH:

The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday deferred hearing on a plea challenging constitution of justice SN Dhingra probe panel for July 7.

The panel was constituted in 2015 to probe allegations that laws were flouted in granting land licences in Gurgaon during the previous Congress government’s tenure. The alleged beneficiary companies include one owned by Robert Vadra, son-inlaw of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. The panel submitted its report on August 31, 2016 and is yet to be made public.

The matter was listed before special division bench of justice AK Mittal and justice Ramendra Jain. Former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda had filed this petition in November 2016, alleging that the government action of ordering the probe was “mala fide” and a result of political “vendetta”, and the present chief minister and his cabinet colleagues were indulging in “witchhunting”. The HC is yet to issue a formal notice to the state government. The government has given an undertaking in the HC to not to make the report public.