The FIR was lodged even as Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar recommended CBI probe into the alleged irregularities during the previous Congress government.
An FIR was lodged on Saturday by the Haryana Vigilance Bureau against the then Chairman and Chief Administrator of HUDA for alleged irregularities in allotment of industrial plots in Panchkula three years ago when the then Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was at the body's helm.
The FIR was lodged even as Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar recommended CBI probe into the alleged irregularities during the previous Congress government. The Vigilance Bureau registered the case under relevant sections of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act against the then Chairman of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA), a post held by Hooda, as also former IAS officer DPS Nagal and two other officials of the authority. The FIR does not mention Hooda by name but names of others -- Nagal, then HUDA chief finance officer S C Kansal and another official B B Taneja, besides 13 beneficiaries, figure in it, a senior Vigilance Bureau official told PTI.
Hooda dubbed the move as "political vendetta" unleashed by the BJP government. "They (BJP) have unleashed political vendetta against us (the Congress leaders)," the former Chief Minister told PTI while reacting to the development. He alleged that Khattar government had failed on all fronts and was desperate to divert public attention from its own alleged failures. With the Vigilance Department registering an FIR in the case, the matter would be referred to CBI, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's OSD Jawahar Yadav said.
Talking to reporters at Ludhiana today, Khattar said, "...The Vigilance report says that norms were not followed and the plots were alloted to favourites and close ones." He rejected the allegation of "political vendetta", saying "Wherever wrongs have taken place, we are duty-bound to take action. We don't initiate any action by targeting anyone." Khattar said the state's advocate-general has favoured a probe by an independent agency and added the matter will be referred for a CBI probe.
Outspoken Haryana Minister Anil Vij also said, "This matter will be probed by CBI. Large-scale irregularities have taken place in plot allotments, which were distributed to favourites by the previous regime."
Senior Congress leader Shakeel Ahmad hit out at the BJP government for targeting political opponents.
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