Were ready to cooperate, but Dhingra panel didn't summon anybody: Vadra's counsel

With Justice S.N. Dhingra panel submitting its report to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Robert Vadra's counsel Suman Jyoti on Wednesday alleged that neither the Congress president's son-in-law nor the employees of Skylight Private Limited, owned by him, was summoned by the commission.

Addressing the media here, he disclosed that he had written a letter on his counsel's behalf to Justice Dhingra offering full support and willingness to give all relevant information.

"Dhingra commission never summoned my client (Robert Vadra). He never summoned any representative or the director of Skylight Private Ltd," he said.

"If you don't summon anyone, how can anyone hold against him? Isn't it a breach of Section 8-B on principles of Natural Justice," he said.

He further stated that the company owned by Vadra had acted "legally" while acquiring land in four villages of Gurgaon and never sought payment from any government official whatsoever.

"There is no such record against my client anywhere. We have spent more than Rs. 15 crores in acquiring the land. If you have heard otherwise in the public domain, it is wrong, we only paid by check. This was the only question asked from my client from the Dhingra commission," Jyoti said.

He also slammed the media for terming the Dhingra report as "Vadra report".

The Congress Party, on the other hand, blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Khattar led -Haryana government of running a "vendetta and revenge for years together, purely to slander and vilify" the party.

"This proves that the sole intent is to defame, conspire and malign rather than examine the facts fairly," Congress leader Randeep Surjewala said while addressing a press conference in the national capital.

The commission, which is probing the grant of licences for change in land use (CLU) in four villages of Gurgaon, including the licence granted to Sky Light Hospitality Private Limited, today submitted the report.

The single-member commission got three extensions since it was set up in May 2015. The commission had the mandate to probe the circumstances of the grant or rejection of the licences for the development of colonies, group housing societies and commercial complexes in those sectors of Gurgaon for which lands in the areas of Shikohpur, Sikanderpur, Badah and Kherki Dhaula were used.

It has also probed whether the transfer of licence by the original licencee within a short period of time was in violation of the law and caused a loss of revenue to the state government. Vadra has been accused of transferring his licence to DLF in violation of the law and causing a huge loss to revenue.

Though the commission was initially granted time of six months and was supposed to submit its report by December 8, 2015, its tenure was extended for another six months till June 7 this year on the same terms and conditions.