Vadra gets Hooda govt nod for plot in nick of time

Towards the fag end of its term in office and before imposition of model code of conduct in Haryana for the October 15 assembly elections, the Hooda-led Congress government cleared a file that enables Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra to convert his prime residential property in Gurgaon into a guest house, possibly for commercial use.

Sources in the government told Deccan Herald that Robert Vadra and one of his companies, Lambodar Art Enterprises, own two adjacent plots (Nos 29-30) in a private colony in Gurgaon. After his file pertaining to conversion of land use got the nod from the chief minister’s office recently, Vadra is now eligible to make commercial use of his Gurgaon property by clubbing plots together and converting them into a guest house.

The total size of the property is about 9,000 square feet, sources said.   
About six months after the Haryana government approved a policy in this regard, Vadra applied for conversion of land use of his property in January 2013.

The state government has laid down certain terms and conditions for conversion of land use, including a cap on the minimum and maximum plot size. The minimum plot size needed to apply for conversion was 1,000 square yards.

Since Vadra and his company Lambodar held land titles which were less than the minimum area required to be eligible for conversion, the two adjacent plots were clubbed into one to meet the eligibility criteria.

Senior officials, requesting anonymity, said clearance was accorded to Vadra as per norms of the Haryana Town and Country Planning department.

If sources are to be believed, just about eight people, including Vadra, have made use of the land use conversion policy so far. In 2012, whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka, citing gross anomalies, had cancelled the mutation of land belonging Robert Vadra in Gurgaon in Haryana.