New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, Robert Vadra, may face up to two years imprisonment as leaked documents appear to reveal Vadra possessing undeclared land in excess of legal limit.
According to a report published in Mail Today, land owned by him, his companies and his wife, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, across Gurgaon, Faridabad, Mewat and Palwal districts of Haryana is estimated to be around 146.755 acres – which is beyond the prescribed limits.
As per the rules, the total physical holding of a person or family cannot exceed 21.9 hectares and 53.8 acres.
The report claimed that Vadra, even after selling 82.2 acres of land between 2010 and 2012, breached the land limits norms and that he also did not declared it in his affidavit before the concerned authority as required by the law.
As per the rules, Vadra is now liable to be penalised which could lead to imprisonment of up to two years.
The documents accessed by Mail Today were sent by senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka to the additional director general-come-finance commissioner of the Haryana government, and to the directorate of land record and consolidation on August 22 this year.
“It has come to my notice that the land holdings in Haryana of Robert Vadra including his owned companies and wife prima facie exceeded the permissible limit prescribed under section 4 of the Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings Act 1972. Under section 4 of the Act the total physical holding of a person or family cannot exceed 21.9 hectares or 53.8 acres…,” Khemka was quoted as saying in a letter.
“The land holdings of Robert Vadra including his owned companies and wife prima facie exceeded the permissible limit on 9th January 2008 when his cumulative land holdings in Haryana reached 56.75 acres, which on 7th December 2009 increased to 146.755 acres…,” it added.
“During my tenure in the department, Robert Vadra did not furnish a declaration duly supported by an affidavit of his surplus land holdings in excess of the permissible area to the prescribed authority in the manner prescribed… Failing to furnish a declaration under Section 9 (of the Act) is punishable with imprisonment up to two years under section 21,” Khemka's letter further reads.
Khemka's report on Vadra's land holdings is specified under the Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings Act.
All the land deals, spread across Gurgaon, Faridabad, Mewat and Palwal districts of Haryana, were cleared at a time when the Congress was in power in the state and also at the Centre.
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