Cong dismisses reports of 'undue favours' to Vadra

Congress today dismissed reports that CAG has found the erstwhile Congress government of Haryana granting "undue favours" to Robert Vadra's company and said "there is no such finding of wrongdoing".
"Instead of proceeding to hold the previous Congress Government in Haryana guilty based on half truth, innuendos and insinuations, we must examine the facts," party spokesman Randeep Surjewala said.
Surjewala said the Accountant General of Haryana has neither indicted the previous Congress government nor Robert Vadra or Skylight Hospitality Private Limited for any violation of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975 or any rules or policy.

"There is no such finding of wrongdoing as is being sought to be alleged," he said.
In its report for the year 2013-14, tabled in the Haryana Assembly today, the CAG has come down heavily on the Town and Country Planning Department.
"....The department neither at the time of granting in-principle approval nor at the time of formal approval for transfer of licenses ensured that net profit beyond 15 per cent of the total cost accrues to public exchequer.

"This enabled the developers to earn huge profits merely by selling the land while the government had to forego sizeable amount," the CAG report said.

Surjewala said the deposit of profit beyond 15 per cent applies only to completed projects and not to ongoing projects, which are permitted to be "sold/transferred in accordance with the Haryana Act of 1975".
"As Skylight Hospitality Private Limited had sold/ transferred its licence for 2.7 acres of land without completing the project, this condition did not apply at all. Hence, no law, rule or policy was violated by Government of Haryana," he said.
Surjewala, who was a minister in the erstwhile Congress government of Haryana, claimed that since the inception of Haryana and the enactment of the Act of 1975, the state government has not received a "single rupee" in revenue towards 15 per cent profit clause in last 40 years.

Surjewala claimed that as per his information, the principal accountant general of Haryana have sought clarifications on some issues by issuing due notices to the BJP government of Haryana.
"For apparent politically motivated reasons, they chose not to reply or bring on record the aforesaid incontrovertible facts and statutory provisions leading to finalisation of interim preliminary objections of PAG, Haryana," he said.
Surjewala's reactions came one a day when the Haryana Government during the Congress regime came under attack from the Comptroller and Auditor General for granting "undue favours" to builders, including Robert Vadra's Skylight Hospitality.