HSIIDC had opposed issuing of licenses to builders, says CBI

PANCHKULA: The Central Bureau of Investigation’s probe into the ₹1,500-crore Manesar land scam revealed that the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC), which was involved in land acquisition for the controversial Manesar industrial model township (IMT) in Gurgaon, had opposed the issuance of commercial licenses to builders on the land bought from distressed farmers at throwaway prices between 2004 and 2007.

“HSIIDC raised red flag in response to the feedback sought by Haryana town and country planning department after builders applied for licenses to construct residential and commercial units, in 2006,” said an official of the central probe agency, who is privy to the chargesheet filed in the special CBI court last week in which former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his former aides and realty firms have been charged with criminal conspiracy, fraud and corruption for their involvement in the wscam. The officials added that despite HSIIDC’s dissenting note, which was in sync with the government norms, the town and country planning department did not reject the builders’ files.

“The department put their applications on hold and finally issued licenses after land acquisition proceedings were officially dropped following a decision by Hooda government on August 24, 2007,” he added.

As per the chargesheet, the builders bought 459 acres from the farmers, out of which licenses were illegally issued on 260 acres. Retired bureaucrat SS Dhillion, who was the then director of town and country planning department, has already been named as an accused along with Hooda’s former principal secretaries Chattar Singh and MLTayal in the chargesheet that runs over 80,000 pages.

As per the chargesheet, the market value of the farmers’ land was close to ₹4 crore per acre but the builders forced them to sell the land at a meagre rate of ₹20-25 per lakh, saying that the government will not pay much during their acquisition.

Without going into specific details, CBI spokesperson RK Gaud said that the facts gathered during investigation have already been mentioned in the chargesheet and the same have been submitted in the designated court. The matter is subjudice now. The court will take up the matter on February 26.

OFFICIALS IN THE KNOW OF THE CHARGESHEET SAY DESPITE HSIIDC’S DISSENTING NOTE, TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING DEPT DID NOT REJECT BUILDERS’ FILES