JOIN USDenying Arvind Kejriwal’s fresh allegations about its business deals with Robert Vadra, real estate giant DLF on Tuesday claimed that Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law had no interest in any of the Special Economic Zones of the company.
In a statement issued shortly after Kejriwal’s press-conference in New Delhi, the DLF Limited accused the activist-turned-politician of sensationalising information that were “already in public domain and well-disclosed”. It termed Kejriwal’s allegation as a bunch of lies.
The real estate company claimed that Vadra’s firm North India IT Parks Private Limited had in October 2008 acquired 50 per cent shares of the DLF SEZ Holdings Limited at the face value of Rs 2.50 lakh. But DLF had bought back the shares in September 2009 “fully at face value of Rs 2.50 lakh, as the proposal for developing the SEZ could not take off due to deep recession”. “No benefit or gain was made by Vadra or DLF,” it added.
It claimed that Vadra neither had nor has any interest in the various SEZs of DLF. Referring to Kejriwal’s allegation about a nexus between DLF and the Congress government in Haryana, the real estate company said that the issue regarding its purchase of 30 acres of land in Gurgaon from East India Hotels to develop the SEZ was subjudice as the Supreme Court had in June and September 2011 stayed the order of the Pubjab and Haryana High Court.
Kejriwal alleged that though the plot was supposed to be used to build a hospital, the Haryana government had allotted it to DLF. He accused the Congress government of Haryana of unduly favouring DLF due to the latter’s links with Vadra.
On the issue of allotment of another large piece of land measuring 350 acres, DLF claimed that it had got the plot from the Haryana government through an international bidding process, but added that the matter was subjudice before the High Court of Punjab & Haryana.
The DLF also claimed that it had not been anyway benefited by the revision of the Master Plan for the Gurgaon Manesar Urban Complex Plan 2025. The company said the project had been approved in 1995. “In subsequent revisions of the Master Plan, no changes in FAR or density have taken place. Hence, no benefit has accrued to DLF by the said revisions in the Master Plan,” it added.
On the allegation about land acquisition by the Haryana government in Manesar being cancelled to favour DLF, the company claimed that it had never purchased any land in the residential sectors of the area.
“Acquisition proceedings were withdrawn by the government of Haryana on August 24, 2007, whereas DLF acquired development rights much later from other developers to develop two licensed group housing projects only on April 11, 2008. These group housing projects are under development after obtaining all due approvals,” it said.