Priyanka Vadra seeks final hearing in land case

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Thursday admitted a writ petition filed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Vadra for final hearing in her land purchase case.

A division bench of Justice Trilok Singh Chauhan and Justice P.S. Rana heard both the parties and directed the court registry to expedite the hearing of the case.

Priyanka Vadra had challenged the order passed by the state information commission to the Shimla deputy commissioner to supply information to Right to Information (RTI) activist Devashish Bhattacharya pertaining to the purchase of land by her on the outskirts of the state capital.

Earlier, the high court had discharged Chief Information Commissioner Bhim Sen and Information Commissioner K.D. Batish from contempt proceedings relating to their order on summoning her records.

The officials, who were directed to remain present before the court on November 27 last year in a contempt petition filed by Priyanka Vadra, tendered an unconditional apology to the court.

Acting on the apology, the division bench closed the contempt proceedings.

Priyanka Vadra had alleged that despite the stay order passed by the high court, the information commission proceeded with the matter and summoned the records.

The information commission in July last year rapped government officials, including Deputy Commissioner Dinesh Malhotra, and summoned them and the records related to the land deal in August.

The government officials were facing penalty proceedings for withholding information sought under the RTI Act.

Priyanka Vadra's cottage, just 15 km from Shimla, is coming up at a height of more than 8,000 feet.