Exclusive Hours after Haryana’s top land records officer starts probe into Vadra’s dealings, he is transferred
A top official in the Haryana government’s land registration department was transferred hours after he initiated a probe into all the land dealings of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in four districts of the State neighbouring Delhi, The Hindu can disclose.
The transfer order came on October 11, 2012 — even as the country was still digesting the allegations made by India Against Corruption of a nexus between Mr. Vadra and real estate giant DLF — and strongly suggests that the dealings between the two were not just “transactions between private individuals” but may have involved the cooperation and even collusion of politicians and bureaucrats. Haryana has been ruled by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress since 2004.
The transferred officer, Ashok Khemka, has protested his eviction from the post of Haryana’s Director-General of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration in writing, alleging mala fide. Though he had no option but to accept the marching orders, Mr. Khemka issued an order on his last day in office on October 15 cancelling the mutation of a 3.531-acre plot of land in Manesar-Shikohpur that Mr. Vadra had sold to DLF for Rs. 58 crore.
Three days earlier, pursuant to the probe he had already initiated, Mr. Khemka issued a letter formally ordering an inquiry across four districts into the “alleged under-valuation of some properties registered by Shri Robert Vadra or his companies as vendor or vendee.” His letter took note of IAC’s allegations and reports in the media.
Based on the preliminary details uncovered by the inquiry in the case of at least one of those properties, Mr. Khemka cancelled the mutation of the 3.531- acre plot that Mr. Vadra’s company, M/s Sky Light Hospitality, had sold to DLF Universal Ltd on September 18, 2012. He did so on the grounds that the mutation violated the States Consolidation Act and was done not by a revenue officer but by the Assistant Consolidation Officer of Gurgaon who was not authorised to do so. (EA4/2012/4620-4621 dated 15 October, 2012)
The inquiry also points out that the action of the sub-registrar, Manesar, in registering the property was “not proper” because the estate of Shikohpur was notified for consolidation in August 2011 and as such transfer/sale of property during the pendency of consolidation proceedings without the sanction of the Consolidation Officer is prohibited. He also found that the permission given to Mr. Vadra on April 3, 2012 by Haryana’s Town and Country Planning Department to sell the property violated the same provision of the Consolidation Act.
A careful perusal of the timeline of the purchase and sale of this property also raises questions about the exact nature of the deal Mr. Vadra had struck with DLF. The sale deed of this land shows that it was bought by Sky Light Hospitality for Rs. 7.5 crore on February 12, 2008, and mutated in its favour the very next day. A little more than a month later, on March 28, 2008, the Town and Country Planning Department issued Mr. Vadra’s company a licence to develop 2.701 acres of the land into a housing colony. This licence was subsequently renewed on January 18, 2011, according to the enquiry report accessed by The Hindu.
But though the sale deed of this land for Rs. 58 crore to DLF was registered on September 18, 2012, the enquiry found that Mr. Vadra had “entered into an agreement to sell within 65 days of the issue of the first licence.” By October 2009, he had received Rs. 50 crore out of the total sale consideration, the first instalment of which was made on June 3, 2008. Mr. Khemka, in his order, points out: “It is not clear what made the Town and Country Planning Department renew the licence in 2011 in favour of Sky Light Ltd when 86.2 per cent of the total sale money had been paid 15 months before.”
“If M/s Sky Light Ltd suppressed the fact that [it] had entered into a sale agreement of the property with DLF before the renewal of the licence then the department ought to be taking action [against] the former for suppressing facts.” But if Mr. Vadra had indeed informed the department about his entering into an agreement to sell the land to DLF on June 3, 2008 (when the first instalment was paid) “it is unfathomable how the department could renew the licence in 2011” in his favour, “when he had ex-facie entered into agreement to sell within 65 days of the issue of the first licence,” Mr. Khemka’s report goes on to say.
Haryana officials familiar with the deal say that the sequence of transactions — in which the land’s value went up from Rs. 7.5 crore to Rs. 58 crore in just 65 days because of the licence given to it — raises questions about whether DLF had entered into business with Mr. Vadra in order to get clearances for land that may not have been forthcoming through regular methods.
In his October 12 letter, Mr. Khemka, undeterred by his transfer, ordered the deputy commissioners of the districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal and Mewat to inspect all documents from 2005 to date, registered by Mr. Vadra or his companies, either as buyer or seller, to check whether any property has been undervalued for the purpose of evading payment of stamp duty.
Mr. Khemka’s transfer comes after he has spent less than three months in his assignment as Inspector-General of Registration where, besides probing the Vadra deals, he has uncovered massive fraud in the transfer of panchayat lands to realtor companies and some powerful bureaucrats and politicians.
In an angry letter to the Haryana Chief Secretary protesting his transfer, Mr. Khemka has requested him to “see for himself the cases of villages Baad Gujar, Rozka Gujar, Kot, Shikohpur, Kalesar, Anhir, Malikpur, Bangar and Chirsi. It is grossly unfair to punish me for being upright and exposing the scams and corrupt acts instead of taking action against the guilty.” “It seems that this is deliberate and mala fide to punish me due to some vested elements in the political bureaucratic hierarchy affected by the exposure of the scam in Consolidation under the garb of exercise of powers. Several hundred crores worth of panchayat lands were transferred to realtor companies which were created a few days earlier… Panchayats also lost huge lands in consolidation by way of deliberate undervaluation,” the letter states. He ends by saying: “I am threatened that I would be subject to transfer every month so as to humiliate me and demoralize me.”
Mr. Khemka has been transferred to the Haryana Seeds Development Corporation on a post that was held by an officer 12 years his junior. He left charge on Monday, but not before issuing orders cancelling the mutation in favour of DLF and putting on record the irregularities that he has detected in the Manesar-Shikohpur land deal.
Haryana officers say that the discretionary Change in Land Use permission is exercised almost like the old industrial licensing regime and is the “mother source of all land scams. CLU permission granted on agricultural land escalates its value manifold, resulting in a premium for a nexus of realtors, politicians and bureaucrats.”
With Mr. Khemka out of the way, it is not clear if the leads he had developed or the inquiry he has ordered would be followed by the Haryana authorities. On October 12, he formally ordered four Deputy Commissioners-cum-registrars to “estimate the real value” of Mr. Vadra’s direct and indirect property holdings “and in case of under-valuations the matter should be referred to the Collector under Section 47-A of the Indian Stamps Act for correct assessment of the stamp duty payable. The names of the companies of Shri Robert Vadra as reported in The Hindu dated October 8, 2012 include Sky Light Realty, Sky Light Hospitality, Real Earth Estates, Blue Breeze Trading, Artex and Northern India IT Parks.”
Mr. Khemka had asked that the report “must reach this office by October 25, 2012.”
Keywords: Robert Vadra, land dealings, Vadra-DLF land deal, Indian Stamps Act, official transfer, land registration department
an IAS officer has been transferred quite a number of times just
because of his honesty and dedication towards a highly accountable and
respectable job in india. his honesty is established by the history of
events which tell us that he has been transferred out of turns and
never a single case has been lodged against him or action taken
against him. moreover, the two year policy related to the transfers
has been violated by the administration and he has been transferred
numerous times before even completing his tenure. added to this, the
haryana chief minister replies that it is in the hands of the state to
decide whether a person has to be transferred or not. the vague
statements and foolish actions by the state to humiliate an honest
official just because he wants to expose the loopholes in the
administration and unmask the corrupt public private partnerships
between industrialists and politicians is highly noticeable and the
state should try their hands at some less obvious tactics.
Atmost what we can do is to caste our vote in the upcoming election to remove the corrupted government.If the successive government is also corrupt,then we will select the same government again like what is happening in tamilnadu.Is dismissing the government in the next election really a final solution? now we are gradually forgetting the spectrum scam,CWG scam,and many more. What is really happening in these investigations now?
Mr.Khemka's honesty and boldness in facing up to the most powerful in the country are in refreshing contrast to the generally prevalent 'crawl-when-asked-to-bend' syndrome among beureaucracy.Scams cannot occur without rules and regulations being bent to the dictates of the political bosses who enrich themselves at the cost of the poor. The fact that scams after scams are surfacing like mushrooms indicates that moral degeneration is scaling greater heights.So much so that the old timers are rueing why the country got independence from the British.
Even if the property was registered with full value, Govt will get the tax later it is going to the greedy politicians pocket in the form of their expenses.
All the allegations, scams, protests (ending with null corollary), proving the value of
1.86 lakhs crore as 'ZERO' terming the sum of 71 lakhs as of no match for a national
leader in this day and age, it seems 'middle-class' is all set to be considered as
endangered species.
By the way, this captive system of making us click on and view an advertisement in order to submit a comment is highly despicable and very unbecoming of THE HINDU. I never expected our dear reputable paper to become so cheap. It is not just annoying, it is downright selling out. Please stop it.
Mr. Khemka is doing his job as a professional, and kudos to that. Let's not attach anything more than that. If we all did our jobs like him, we would not have any corruption. It is because the majority of India LOVES corruption and getting out of turn benefits that we have this disease running rampant in our system.
My thousands salutes to you Mr. Khemka. Well done. Your devotion to
duty and honesty will certainly inspire many Govt. servants.
Yes the best & brightest need to join politics but please stay away from major political parties like Congress, NCP, BJP, SP/BSP etc as the foundations of all these parties are made on corruption. An honest person will either not rise in these parties of will be used as a mask (mukhauta) to help hide corruption of other in the top.
I felt really ashamed of the things that is happening to my motherland and as most of the Bollywood movie script this could happen only in our country. Unless someone like Arvind Kejiriwal/ Anna Hazare steps up, we(including myself) won't do anything to address the grass root problem. The role of media should be highlighted again and the "Fourth Estate" should really behave like one (like "The Hindu" in this case) to uncover the illegalities which are related to our politicians and its relatives be it Congress, BJP, RJD, DMK, ADMK. The corrupt small/big should be punished. I salute Khemka's brave & unselfish action and I salute "The Hindu" for bringing this story up in the paper.
Bewildering corruption coupled with ineffecive punishments have led to this. By converting freedom movement to a Political Party, Nehru, perhaps unknowingly killed democracy. Congress does not have an alternative. We need an opposition that is non corrupt, non commmunal and someone winnable.
I salute Mr. Khemka for his honesty and bravery. I wonder what our honest PM has to say in this matter while other day he was exhorting all officers to perform their duties without fear or favor.Surely an all out campaign must be launched on internet and electronic media to protect the dignity and honor of honest officers and reinstate Mr. Khemka and punished guilty.
Being a true and honest bureaucrat will be such a heinous crime that an arduous Civil Servant will be knifed by some corrupt people is a matter of shame for the nation which follows the footsteps of the Mahatma.
Society its a wake up call for everyone..."Either we close our eyes and let them do what they want or fight for the right like Mr.Ashok Khemka"
Mr.Ashok Khemka,Sir we our proud that democracy is still safe in the hands of bureaucrats like Ashok Khemka !
If we have even few percent officers like Ashok Khemka, our country will
become clean from these corrupted politicians.
Tell me who your friends are, i will tell you who you are. Let us see who are the best friends
of Corrupt Congress. THEY ARE. KARU, LALU., SHARAD - the most honest people on
earth.
Noe you know who Congress people are
My Salute to Khemka Sir,he is the real Hero India needs.Sad to read what these Looters doing with him.All Indians should wake up now & vote these looters out of power,so that they are never able to do such ghastly things with such courageous people who perform their duty Honestly.
a judicial inquiry is certinly indicated here to expose any undue favors extended by the govt to a private individual, also quid pro quo angle must be explored, democracies have to respond to allegations of corruption
Kudos to Mr. Khemka for doing his duty. He also has done the right thing
by cancelling the deal for mutation of land to be purchased by DLF. I
was expecting obstacles would be created by the Haryana government as
soon as the probe started and they didn't disappoint me. It only goes to
show that there was indeed something fishy in the deals between Vadra-
DLF
A senior IAS officer itself faces transver for standing against
corruption, think of other govt employee or a comman man how much
pressure he has to face, if he want to stand against corruption. Its
time for us to stand up and save our democracy.
The great thing about this country is the abundance of good people. If
only the ruling class of politicians and bureaucrats wasn't by and large
composed of crooks, there would be no poverty in India. Alas!
Journalism has a great value when it creates positive impact in society.
The constructive role of the Hindu is undisputed. It is doing valuable
service by its impartial coverage and also following up many stories
till its logical conclusion in many cases. The Robert Vadra case is very
important one though it involve high profile and powerful political
class. Its really remarkable feat in the ethical journalism and the
journalism of courage.
Congratulations to Ashok Khemka for his honest devotion to duty and to The Hindu for its forthright reporting. May the honest and the bold thrive!
Appreciate Mr Ashok's honesty and effort.He should challenge his transfer in Central Administrative Tribunal and get stay on his transfer.
India has a a lot to learn from this brave officer. Hope this breed of citizens wont disappear, but rather swell and swarm this country.
Khemka s transfer order served late in the night establishes beyond doubt the Haryana Govtt DLF VADRA nexus.The Chief secretary is reported to have stated transfer is the prerogative of the Govtt and a routine administrative issue.Routine transfer orders are not served at 10 PM at residence of the officer sent out.A disgraceful episode desrving condemnation b all those who cherish values/
My salute to Mr. Ashok Khemka for his endeavour despite strong headwinds. Hats off to your persistence and service despite of unfathomable number of transfers impositions upon you. It is such painful to read that such sincere officers are into hard times while many of the politicians are looting the country unapologetically and mercilessly. Nevertheless, there is a ray of hope and optimism because of such officers who keep the wheels of our nation turning.
The transfer policies of government officials need to be scrutinised. When it comes to senior executives and departmental heads, there should be very clear directives which need to be complied. Unless the officer concerned has been proven to be incompetent or done something which makes his / her position untenable, nobody should have the power to transfer the official. Civil service personnel are public servants and ministers (who are ayarams and gayarams) should not have unbridled powers to transfer them. During the colonial rule transferring of officials at the whims of the authorities has been a practice which suited the colonial power to subjugate and control the civil service to do their biddings. Unfortunately, most of the administrative systems remained after independence and has never been changed to improve governance. A non-political and independent civil service has to be the bedrock of good governance.
The ability of legislators in independent India to make robust laws and rules has been sliding and form what has been happening over the past few decades, it has become very poor indeed. It also indicates the quality of the people who get elected to the legislative bodies. Though they may be poor law makers they have proven to be very efficient and callous law breakers. The focus must be directed towards the process of making efficient laws and enforcement of rule of law.
Dear citizens of India,
I have an idea, but I need your agreement and support for it! Why dont we do Satyagraha, just abandon the malls, products and services of the people whose quality is low, here I mean MORAL QUALITY. Is anyone reading this, then please respond.
Gaurav Nigam from Gurgaon
hat off to mr Khemka for his honest duty. hope that another IAS who take his post should do what mr Khemka do. but i fear newone could be congree men.
This story is right out of a Bollywood movie. The only difference is
that in real life the bad guy gets away and the hero sticks it out in
some obscure town in India.
It's really sad that people who try to help the country always get
disposed in an undemocratic manner.. and those who try to steal and rob
the nation get away and even have thousands of mourners at their
funerals.
Honesty is an attitude of mind and personal integrity on the part of senior government officials is mostly a part of their mental make-up. There are many officials who are not financially affluent but show great probity in their dealings with the public. Similarly there are public servants who are rich and yet they do not miss an opportunity to make money by misusing their power and/or getting close to corrupt politicians. Mr. Khemka obviously belongs to the first category. Unfortunately, such officials are fast becoming 'endangered species' as the Haryana Govt.'s action against Mr. Khemka shows. This story is being repeated in all the states of our unfortunate country!
It is surprising to note that a company like DLF giving loan to Mr. Vadra who is a broker for arranging a land. Generally if any one in need of land or building approach the broker to identify and pay the brokerage. In this case, they allowed a unsecured loan to a broker who is in this case Mr. Vadra to buy a land in his company at first instance with DLF money and sell it to DLF at a later date at a higher price. Can't they buy directly. This speaks volumes of DLF and Mr. Vadra deal in this whole episode.
The Congress should explain this transfer. If Robert Vadra is innocent,
what was the need to transfer an officer who was probing it? This act,
if unexplained, raises suspicions about Robert Vadra's innocence.
Hats off to Mr.Khemka, I would also request him to take this up strongly and be an IAC activist.
Mr. Khemka is a great Indian. Request to all Public servants, please come forward and save the nation from Congress Party and Sonia Gandhi family.
Mr Ashok Khemka- one the few good men left in India. He had the courage
to initiate proceedings as per law.
The powerful but jittery govt had no option but to shunt him out.
Congress and its leaders who say at every
forum.."probe...investigate"....have to answer this highly motivated
transfer when a legitimate probe was initiated.
One must salute Mr Kejriwal and the likes of Mr Ashok who keep this
country moving.
Yet again it proves how deep and vast the roots of corruption is in our nation which has the greatest advocate of truth as its Father. To uproot it directly might be a fallacy. In this transformed world, to tackle it with brute force or utter peace will again be disastrous. The need of the hour is for shrewd and innovative ideas to crop it out and make it wilt away. We the "Aam Aadmi" hope and pray, may the Almighty enlighten the true bureaucrats left in our government and the leaders of IAC with the right approach in their just cause for our nation.
Weldone Ashok.You deserve all praise for exposing sham deals.However,it is shameful for some of our friends and fellow officers to stoop so low as to do all illegal things.Obviously they must be gaining some money in these deals along with being in good books of corrupt political bosses.
Kudos officer! Such upright and duty-minded bureaucrats inspire a ray of
hope which otherwise is surrounded by utter gloom. The blatant disregard
for the established procedures and corrective actions when the same was
not followed is really appalling. That the officer transferred 20 times
in a span of 40 years speaks volumes. It is time the nation takes note
of such barbaric executive high-handedness & the behind-the-curtains
political machinations and gives a fitting reply in the manner that
befits it.
This is not a new story nor even a shocking one but what I feel this
event exposes is why our politicians shows so much confidence for
initiating fair enquiry whenever eyebrows are raised on their
functioning without any fear.
Or maybe this could be a part of what our ‘Honest’ PM mentioned some day
earlier that RTI is not allowing honest officers to perform duties
efficiently.
Every probe against the powerful or rather corrupt lobby in our country
initiates this process of transfers and eliminations of honest officers,
or even killing them in the extreme cases as exposed in ‘Muraina
District event of Madhya Pradesh’.
We cant keep praying to Gandhis and BJP to save this country when every
prayer deludes them even more into their apparent infallibility. India
can do well only when it can attract the best and brightest into
politics and administration (like during the independence struggle) and
not its worst kind as it does now.
Mr.Ashok Khemka, I salute you.
Keep going and continue to be the role model for every government servant. You are a living example and a new ray of hope for people who still believe in truth and honesty. Special thanks to The Hindu for bringing this news to the light
Victim becomes the guilty party in India regardless which political party is in power.It happened with TEHELKA under BJP.Now this.
We must begin an on-line compaign to bring Mr.Khemka back so that he can finish the work begun by him.Media must ask both Congress Party leaders at all levels why is Mr.Khemka being transferred.Is Mr.Vadra now a high-tension wire no one dare touch unless ready to be burnt ?
I salute the officer for doing the right thing. When a civil servant
like Ashok Khemka is just performing his duty, why is he being
transferred - rather a case similar to de-promotion. If the allegations
against Mr.vadra are indeed false,am sure Mr.Vadra/DLF can publish the
facts and figures and justify themselves.Its just pathetic to see what
politicians can get done. Its disgusting to see the way they do
things.I just feel so hopeless for my country. Each and every one in
power seems to be busy looting each other - and off course good ones
like Mr.Khemka get transferred or get affected badly.
My great appreciation to Mr.Khemka for his bold decision to disclose land scam and letter written to Chief Secretary to punish those involved in irregularities. If all public servant come forward in this way there is a little possibilities to stop corruption.Common man and middle class people are suffering to have own house/land in city . Most of the people's life dream is to have own house. But these people owning land in acre that also in wrong way. Don't do this otherwise people won't forgive you.
M.Subburaj,
Chennai.
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