The Controversial Land Deals of Robert Vadra

Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, has received much media attention in the recent past because of his controversial deals in real estate in India. Now, the Haryana government has decided to probe all the land deals Vadra had made. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had blamed the previous Congress government in Haryana led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda for handing out favors to Vadra in his multi-million rupee controversial land deals with realty giant DLF.

Let us look into some of Vadra's controversial land deals:

The controversial land deal with DLF: In 2008, Robert Vadra's company, Skylight Hospitality, sold 3.5 acres of land in Gurgaon to DLF for Rs. 58 crore. Skylight Hospitality had paid only Rs. 15 crore for this land parcel. The Hooda government had given Vadra's company change of land use (CLU) and other clearances. According to the CAG, Skylight Hospitality is one of the nine companies in Manesar that had not submitted documents on financial adequacy. But, the pervious Congress government in Haryana had claimed there was nothing illegal about Vadra's land deals. In 2012, IAS officer Ashok Khemka, the then Director General of Consolidation and Land Holdings, Haryana, had cancelled the mutation of the land deal. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, who is now the chief minister of Delhi, had accused Vadra of obtaining an interest-free loan of Rs. 65 crore and having an unfair advantage in land deals with DLF. 

Land deals in Rajasthan: According to the Rajasthan government, Vadra might have bought over 1,000 acres of land in the state. Though Robert Vadra claims that he bought land in Rajasthan for as low as Rs. 20,000 an acre, a 30-hectare plot that he bought for Rs. 4.45 lakh three years ago was worth nearly Rs. 2 crore in the early 2014. As the land Vadra bought in Rajasthan is much above the prescribed ceiling, the previous Ashok Gehlot government scrapped the upper ceiling to allow Vadra to purchase more land.

Land acquired in partnership with DLF: Tying up with DLF, Vadra's firms bought large tracts of land in tier-III cities in Haryana and Rajasthan. Vadra's companies acquired five bighas in Sohna, Haryana, for Rs. 7.9 crore in 2007-08. Skylight Hospitality had also bought land in Bikaner, Rajasthan, for Rs. 79 lakh, though the acreage is not disclosed. In 2009-10, North India IT Parks acquired 160.62 acres in Bikaner for Rs. 1.02 crore. Another Vadra's company, Real Earth Estates Pvt. Ltd., acquired large tracts of land in Hayatpur, Bikaner, Hassanpur, Mewat and Greater Kailash, for Rs. 7 crore.