Khemka's reply 'high on rhetoric, low on facts': K T S Tusli

Noted lawyer K T S Tulsi today dismissed as "high on rhetoric and low on facts" IAS officer Ashok Khemka's "voluminous reply" submitted to Haryana government's three-member inquiry committee to look into Robert Vadra-DLF land deal.
Haryana minister Randeep Singh Surjewala also sought to reject Khemka's reply terming it "cacophony of allegations and sensationalisation by vested interests".
The reactions of Tulsi and Soorjewala a came day after media reports about Khemka's allegation that Robert Vadra "falsified documents" for 3.53 acres of land in Gurgaon and "pocketed" large premium on a commercial colony license.
"The letter circulated to the media purporting to be the response of Khemka is high on rhetoric and low on facts and administrative propriety...Khemka forgets that his response necessarily has to be confined to the facts on record at the time of making order in the file," Tulsi, a former Solicitor General of the country said.

Maintaining that government took an "extra-ordinary step" to constitute a committee of three senior most Civil Servants to examine the matter in light of the relevant record and facts, Tulsi said, "the malafide intention of Khemka is writ large as he chooses to personally attack the integrity of two of the three senior most Civil Servants in the state."
"He may be suffering from some delusion that he is the only honest Civil Servant," the lawyer added.

Tulsi said that the committee came to four conclusions after examining the record contained in the relevant file.
"There was no under-valuation with regard to the controversial deal with DLF. Khemka attacked beyond his authority vested in law by cancelling the mutation of land," he said, while quoting from the committee conclusions.

Tulsi said Khemka seems to have misused the power of the state government as he had no authority to invoke power under the Punjab Land Revenue Act.
"The cancellation of mutation on October 14, three days after he stood transferred, was administratively improper," he said.