Not to probe Robert Vadra's land deal only: Justice Dhingra

Retired Delhi High Court judge S.N. Dhingra, heading a one-man commission of inquiry to probe issues concerning grant of licences for developing commercial colonies, said on Thursday that he was not here to probe in particular the land deal of Robert Vadra.

The probe would be conducted as per the official notification issued for the inquiry, Justice Dhingra told media persons near his office in the Civil Lines area here.

The Haryana government set up the commission to probe grant of licences by the state department of town and country planning to certain entities, including one to the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

"There is no specific mention of Robert Vadra's name anywhere in the notification issued by the state government for a probe into the matter," he said when asked if he would order Vadra to present himself before the commission.

What people or politicians say doesn't make any difference, Justice Dhingra added.

When told that certain quarters in the state government were claiming that the one-man commission was set up to probe the 3.5-acre land deal of Robert Vadra in Shikohpur (sector 83) in Gurgaon on the Delhi-Jaipur-Mumbai National Highway, he said only those claiming so could provide an answer to the issue.

He said he had begun the probe into many issues pertaining to the grant of commercial licences, which includes one given to Sky Light Hospitality, a company owned by Vadra.

Dhingra said he would hopefully submit a report to the Haryana government within six months.

The town and country planning department in 2008 granted a commercial licence to Vadra's company for 2.70 acres of land in Shikohpur, Gurgaon.

The land was later sold to reality company DLF.

Haryana's senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka, as director general of consolidation of holdings, cancelled the mutation of 3.5 acres in Shikohpur but a committee constituted by the then Congress government in Haryana termed Khemka's orders "inappropriate and without jurisdiction".