rs. 20 lakh crore haryana realestate scam

8/13/2019 Rs. 20 lakh crore Haryana Realestate scam

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JAPAN

ABEPLOMACYJEFF KINGSTON

MGDEVA

SAHAYA

M

RACE

FORPM

February 10, 2014 `VOL. 7, ISSUE 11

gfilesindia.com

COURT BY GFILES REGARDING THE GREAT LAND ROBBERYIN HARYANA.HOW HOODA ALONG WITH HIS CRONIES PLUNDERED HARYANA IN HIS

9 YEARS OF RULE.


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www.gfilesindia.com10 gfiles inside the governmentvol.7, issue 11 | February 2014

haryana real estate

by ANILTYAGI

of whether it will have its desired

effects or not, because by speaking

up we may not guarantee raising

the consciousness of the people wholisten but by not speaking up we will

definitely let the people to remain

When in 2004, the citizens of

Haryana elected Bhupinder Singh

Hooda first time as their Chief

Minister, they must have thought

that the monopoly of Lals (Devi Lal,

Bhajan Lal and Bansi Lal) will be over.

They had breathed a sigh of relief and

posed faith in the new leadership of

Hooda. Alas! Hooda, alias Bhupi, has

belied their hopes and aspirations.

Hooda, in his nine years of rule, hasemerged as a coloniser, builder and

a shrewd businessman who worked

only to serve the interest of the elitist

class of the country rather than to

serve the citizens of Haryana. It is

an astonishing scenario where a

Chief Minister, who has been elected

as a protector and guarantor of

a sovereign State in the federal

structure of India, allegedly became

the plunderer of the State resources.

The land, which is the prime source of

existence of the farmer in the State, is

in the hands of such a Chief Minister,who joined hands with greedy

plunderers of the State who have

nothing to do with the development

of the Haryana and Haryanvis; their

main aim is to make a quick buck in

the shortest possible time.

haryana real estate


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11www.indianbuzz.com gfiles inside the governmentvol.7, issue11 | February 2014

bizarre example of administrative,political and economic mismanage-

ment, where the whole administra-

tive machinery connived and surren-

dered to serve the builder mafia

rather than to serve the poor and the

poorest of the State. Like plunderers

of yore, Genghis Khan and Mahmud

of Ghazni, Hooda, the Chief Minister

elected for five years planned and

designed the Master Plan for the next

50 years, that too without consulting

the stakeholders within the State.

Haryana is a peculiar State wherefarmers, land owners, communi-

ties and city residents have been

coerced to surrender the pre-

cious land which they

owned for generations

under the guise of the Land

Acquisition Act to greedy

saga where, in all 21 districts of the

State the rules have been amended,

master plans have been malafidely

drafted and environmental and eco-

logical laws thrown into the dustbin

with the connivance of the political

and administrative machinery.

Land is the one resource which

cannot be stretched. The populationof India is growing every day. India

has to debate how an elected Chief

Minister, legislators and the State

administrative machinery should

the welfare of the State and nobody

else. India has to debate how a Chief

Minister can dare to connive with the

builder mafia to implement the

Master Plan and forcibly take away

with the stakeholders in that particu-

lar district. Hooda never bothered to

consult the panchayats, block pra-

mukhs, zila parishads, local MLAs

and municipalities in nine years as

the Chief Minister. He seems to have

defied all the parameters that define

a democratic State.Our Associate Editor, Neeraj

Mahajan, after three months of

investigation, has unearthed the

allegedly unholy nexus of Chief

Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda,

his coterie, and the builder mafia in

a detailed public interest initiative,

submitted to the Honble Supreme

Court. It explains how a Chief

Minister can become a despotic ruler

rather than messiah. gfiles, in its

endeavour, has spared 50 pages of

the magazine, which no publicationdares to do for one story. In the

forthcoming issues, we will expose

how individual builders and some

of the billionaire MLAs of Haryana

are making castles without proper

mechanism and infrastructure,

just to befool the poor man, who is

dreaming about having a roof over

his head one day with his

hard-earned money. g

PHOTOS: RAJEEV TYAGI


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haryana real estate

A Petition In The Public Interest

(Extraordinary Writ Jurisdiction)In the matter of:gfiles : A magazine on governance(Regd.No.DL Eng/2007/19719)118, IInd Floor, DDA Site-I,

Petitioner

VERSUS1. Bhupinder Singh Hooda,

Chief Minister of Haryana

2. Secretary, Ministry of FinanceDepartment of Revenue

Room No. 46, North Block New Delhi - 110 001

3. Ministry of Environment & Forests Government of India Paryavaran Bhavan

CGO Complex, Lodhi Road New Delhi-110003

4. Ministry of Urban Development Government of India Through: National Capital Region Planning

Board, Core-IV B, First Floor India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road New Delhi-110003

5. Department of Town & Country Planning& Urban Estate

Government of Haryana 4thFloor, Haryana Civil secretariat Chandigarh

6. Department of Labour Government of Haryana, 30 Bays Building, Sector 17, Chandigarh - 160

017

7. Ministry of Forests & Environment Government of Haryana Room No. 34, 8thFloor Haryana Civil Secretariat Chandigarh

Respondents


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(Any other Ministry, Departments, organisations and

individuals as will be deemed just and appropriate to be

MOST RESPECTFULLY SHOWETH:

Court by way of the present writ petition for public

interest by invoking the extraordinary writ jurisdiction

prayer clause, to decide once and for all whether people

sitting in the government, or in other words, State canarbitrarily decide the use of land resources, especially in

view of the fact that mass scale favouritism and misuse

of land to benefit a handful of powerful coterie and that

too in flagrant violation of all existing environmental

and other laws, rules and regulations made therein to

protect the control of land uses and to avoid any

haphazard development of land and ecological

disturbances and for matters connected therewith.

respect seem to have no effect on the present day

Haryana Government. In one of the much discussed

judgements, the Hon ble Justice GS Singhvi held that:The framers of the Constitution and the representative

of the people who were responsible for introducing Part

IV-A enacted the above provisions with a fond hope

that every citizen will honestly play his role in building

of a homogeneous society in which every Indian will be

able to live with dignity without having to bother about

the basics, like food, clothing, shelter, education,

medical aid, and the nation will constantly march

forward and will take its place of pride in the comity of

nations. However, what has happened during the last

few decades is sufficient to shatter those hopes. The

which existed even in pre-Independent India, has

widened to such an extent that bridging it appears to bean impossibility. A new creed of people (haves) has

come into existence. Those belonging to this category

have developed a new value system which is totally

incompatible with the values and ideals cherished by

the Indian society for centuries together. They have

grabbed power, political and apolitical, and have

successfully used the public institutions to subserve

their ends. The system of quotas, licences, permits, etc.,

has been used and misused by them for increasing their

material wealth. Their actions have created an

atmosphere of diffidence in all walks of life. The

common man has started feeling that this new creed of

people, who believe in grabbing whatever comes itsway, is unstoppable and the law will also become its

servant because quite a few people belonging to this

class are creators and administrators of law. However,

it appears that every thing is not lost. The third organ of

the State, whose primary duty has been to interpret the

Constitution and the provisions of law and to adjudicate

(above)

(left)

PPI contd. on next page


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haryana real estate

the disputes between the individual (s) and the State

and between individuals inter se, or groups of

individual, has been forced by the people and the

circumstances to take steps to uphold the majesty of

law and the authority of the Constitution.

Secretary, JDA vs Daulat Mal Jain, JT 1996(8) SC

387, the Apex Court had the occasion to examine

allotment of lands to the respondents by the Minister

and the committee headed by the Minister. Some of

the observations made in that decision are quite relevant

in the context of the present case and are therefore,

quoted below:

constitutional status and performs functions under

constitution, law executive policy. The acts done andduties performed are public acts or duties as holding

of the public office. Therefore, he owes certain

accountability for the acts done or duties performed.

In a democratic society governed by rule of law,

power is conferred on the holder of the public office

or the concerned authority by the Constitution by

virtue of appointment. The holder of the office,

therefore, gets opportunity to abuse or misuse of the

office. The politician who holds public office must

perform public duties with the sense of purpose, and

a sense of direction, under rules or sense of priorities.

The purpose must be genuine in a free democratic

society governed by the rule of law to further socio-

economic democracy. The executive Government

should frame its policies to maintain the social order,

stability, progress and morality. All actions of the

Government are performed through/by individual

persons in collective or joint or individual capacity.

Therefore, they should morally be responsible for

their actions.... The Minister is responsible not only

for his actions but also for the job of the bureaucrats

who work or have worked under him. He owes theresponsibility to the electors for all his actions taken

in the name of the Governor in relation to the

Department of which he is the Head. If the Minister,

in fact, is responsible for all the detailed working of

his Department, then clearly ministerial

responsibility must cover a wider spectrum than

mere moral responsibility; for no minister can

possibly get acquainted with; all the detailed


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decisions involved in the working of his

Department.... The so-called public policy cannot be

a camouflage for abuse of the power and trust

entrusted with a public authority or public servant

for the performance of public duties. Misuse implies

doing of something improper. The essence of

impropriety is replacement of a public motive for a

private one. When satisfaction sought in the

performance of duties is for mutual personal gain,

the misuse is usually termed as corruption. Theholder of a public office is said to have misused his

position when in pursuit of a private satisfaction, as

distinguished from public interest, he has done

something which he ought not to have done. The

most elementary qualification demanded of a

Minister is honesty and incorruptibility. He should

not only possess these qualifications but should also

well known, has been rapidly converted into jungle of

concrete, taking a heavy toll on existing flora and fauna

of the State and damaging its reputation of being thefood bowl of the country.

his tenure, kept all the important departments

relating to land and urban development under his

control with the sole motive of taking unilateral

decisions regarding sale and allotment of land to a select

few favourite individuals and groups, turning them

billionaires overnight at the cost of poor Haryanvis.

changed, altered or modified with the motive of

favouring a select group of builders close to the Chief

Minister and its coterie, benefiting both with complete

disregard to systemic planning and the basic laws ofequity. So much so that three Master Plans were created

in haste, including Master Plan 2031, assuming that the

same government will continue for decades to come.

politicians and others to seek political and other favours

i.e. Quid pro quo.

changed midway to safeguard commercial interest of

some favoured builders with complete disregard to the

cost and loss of revenue to the State exchequer.

Government are allegedly influenced by a select

coterie, comprising of influential politicians, builders

and business mafia, including Venod Sharma, Kunal

Badoo, Arvind Walia, Anil Sharma, Kabul Chawla and

Sameer Gehlaut.PPI contd. on next page


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haryana real estate

by NEERAJMAHARAJ

IT would be difficult to imagine evena legend like Sachin Tendulkar

single-handedly batting, bowling

and keeping the field all by himself.

Likewise, try as much as she might,

singing sensation Lata Mangeshkar

too would find it difficult to write

the lyrics, compose, direct the music,

coordinate, sing and play all the

musical instruments all by herself. It

is next to impossible to imagine that

Haryana Chief Minister BhupinderSingh Hooda is managing the whole

show all by himself.

As far as taking important decisions

and deciding the policy on real estate is

concerned, Hooda allegedly depends

on his son-in-law Kunal Bhadoo, DLF

strongman KP Singh, former Union

minister Venod Sharma, entrepre-

neur Jawahar Goel (Dish TV, Essel

Group of Companies), Kabul Chawla

(promoter of BPTP), Arvind Walia(Director, Ramprastha Group), Sushil

Ansal (Promoter of Ansal Group),

Sameer Gehlaut (Indiabulls) as well

as Anil and Gautam Bhalla of Vatika

Ltd. Call it a high-power committee,

think-tank or a more informal kitchen

cabinet, they are the ones who alleged-

ly decide most actions concerning the


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real estate sector in the State. In other

words, one may say that these are thepeople who are allegedly helping, rath-

er driving, Hooda to ruin Haryana.

APART from them, IAS officers

like the on-deputation 1996

batch Karnataka cadre IAS

officer Rajender Kumar Kataria, the

son-in-law of Haryana Congress pres-

ident Phool Chand Mullana, former

Haryana additional advocate general

and advocate Sunil Parti, hotelier

Kewal Dhingra and foot soldiers like

Chopra, fill in the blanks.

A former Army Officer, Kushal Pal

Singh, the son-in-law of DLF Group

founder, is allegedly a master in

the art of give and take and political

arm-twisting for strategic business



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haryana real estate

THE biggest beneficiary of the Hooda rule is none

other than Business Park Town Planners Limited, also

known as BPTP, promoted by Kabul Chawla, Punam

(mother of Kabul Chawla) and Anjali Chawla (wife of Kabul

Chawla). Incorporated under the Companies Act on August

11, 2003, BPTP has a number of companies, like Countrywide

Promoters Pvt Ltd, Countrywide Home and Farms Pvt Ltd,

Glitz Builders & Promoters Pvt Ltd, Foliage Construction

Pvt Ltd, Five Star Promoters Pvt Ltd, Vital Construction

Pvt Ltd, Native Buildcon Pvt Ltd, Green Valley Towers Pvt

Ltd, Anupam Towers Pvt Ltd, Sunglow Overseas Pvt Ltd,

Druzba Overseas Pvt Ltd, Business Park Promoters Pvt Ltd,Fragrance Construction Pvt Ltd, KA Promoters & Developers

Pvt Ltd, Westland Developers Pvt Ltd, Poonam Promoters &

Developers Pvt Ltd and Vasundra Promoters Pvt Ltd.

BPTP was an unknown and insignificant player till

2005. After Hooda became the Chief Minister, its fortunes

changed, almost overnight in 2005, and the company started

aggressively staking claim over prime land in and around

Faridabad. In just three years, it had acquired licenses

to develop 283.88 acres land at unheard of rock bottom

prices `210 per sq ft in Faridabad. The company starting

selling the first of its plots in 2006 and by 2009 it had sold

approximately 5,657 residential plots, 10,685 apartments,

463 commercial plots and other commercial space.In January 2009, when the Hooda Government permitted

registration of independent floors on residential plots,

BPTP took full advantage and re-aligned its business from

plotted housing to independent floors. This proved to be

a bestselling offer as almost all the 4,997 three bedroom

out in five months between May and September 2009.

Even the 2nd phase of Park Elite Floors was sold by

September 30, 2009, and BPTP was able to mop up nearly

`2.41 billion from the market.

Today, with licenses for close to 1,606 acre land in

The BPTP and DLF saga

advantage. He knows how to subtly

manage his strengths and weaknesses

and gain business mileage. This is

the least you can expect from a man

who managed to leverage a chance

meeting with Rajiv Gandhi to gain

virtual monopoly in Gurgaon. At least,you can say, he was shrewd and bold

enough to move in an unchartered

direction. Not many would have dared

mentally just as sharp in spotting an

opportunity and going all out to grab it

as if there is going to be no tomorrow.

WITHIN the group, apart from

son-in-law Kunal Bhadoo,

Hooda depends most on the

controversial Congress leader from

Chandigarh, Venod Sharma, known

for his troubleshooting and negotiat-

ing skills. A former Union and Stateminister, Sharma had to quit the

Power Ministry after embarrassing

public disclosures about him trying to

bribe three witnesses in the Jessica Lal

case, in which his son Manu Sharma

was the key accused. Even though

Venod Sharma, who is also related to

Haryana assembly speaker Kuldeep

Sharma (his daughter Aishwarya is

son Kartikeya), seemingly remained

out of the power circuit, he is one of

those who challenge their luck to the

limit. That is why despite being outof power, he enjoys such clout that in

informal conversations he is report-

real estate circles. The reason is fairly

in the State without his direct or indi-

rect involvement.


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Faridabad and Gurgaon, Countrywide

Promoters, or BPTP, is way ahead of

even Ansal Properties & Infrastructure

(1,360 acres), or DLF (939 acres). It

is so powerful that it virtually runs a

parallel government, at least as far as

Faridabad and Gurgaon are concerned.

No government official reportedly

dares to come in its way. Some say

Hooda himself is a benami owner

in the company, which is currently

developing 24 group housing, IT and

residential projects in Faridabad and Gurgaon.

of its land reserve is as low as `188 per sq ft. This allows it

to sell properties at relatively attractive prices and, in fact,

is the reason behind its phenomenal success in a relatively

plaint by the owner of a 14.793 acres land in Sector 106 in

Gurgaon to the Haryana TCP not to issue the license till the

agreed sale price was paid, the TCP department not only

awarded but also renewed the licenses despite the fact

that BPTP still does not have possession of the land, or has

begun any construction activity.

One of the first developers to focus on Faridabad,

Countrywide Promoters has the ability to identify suitable

land, acquire and consolidate it. This role is played by anin-house research team of 30 personnel that gathers market

data, assesses the potential of a location, and evaluates its

demographic profile as well as government schemes and

incentives, as applicable.

DLF holds the largest land

bank of 10,255 acres (42 sq km),

including 3,000 acres (12 sq km)

that has been developed and

1,000 acres under development in

Gurgaon. DLF Limited is the largest

commercial real estate developer

in India by revenue, profit, and

market share. DLF is so powerful

that no government in Haryana

can chose to ignore it. Whatever it

wants is reportedly given.

investigations reveal that all almost all propos-

als for grant of licenses are directly approved by the ChiefMinister himself, often overruling senior officials to benefit

a particular builder. Significantly, within two years of his

chief ministership, on December 19, 2006, Hooda changed

the policy for grant of license and change of land use with

retrospective effect from June 7, 2005. By specifically stat-

with prior internal concurrence of the State Government at

who was

the housing minister as well as Chairman TCP and HUDA

was the ultimate authority to sanction or deny a license.

Even if the Director, Town Planning, wanted to grant or deny

This, in effect, sealed the fate of all cooperatives housing,giving a free hand to group housing societies and builders.

This policy also relaxed the norms for change of land use

and discontinued grant of licenses for cooperative housing

societies, even in low potential zones.

One of the richest politicians

`500-crore

empire consists of Piccadily Group of

Industries, 4-star Piccadily Hotel in

Sector 22, Blue Ice bar in Sector 17,

chain of hotels, restaurants, cinema

theatre, sugar mills, distilleries likePiccadily Sugar Industries, Piccadily

Agro Industries, Shakti Fibres,

Piccadily Holiday Resorts and Lyons

Restaurant, besides a number of com-

mercial and residential properties in

Chandigarh.

He has big stakes in the liquor trade

in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar

Pradesh. It is alleged that Hooda is a

and construction business.

SON of liquor baron and one-

time President of PunjabPradesh Congress Committee,

Kidarnath Sharma, Venod Sharma

has a good network in the Brahmin,

Aggarwal, Rajput and Punjabi com-

munities in Haryana. Hooda has many

reasons to rely on his school-time

friend. As the head of the 40-mem-

ber election campaign committee,

helped Hooda muster the support

of 53 members in the 90-member

house when the Congress had just

40 members in the last elections.

when Hooda was an aspiring politi-

cian from Rohtak. On his part, Hooda

too lobbied to get Sharma the Ambala

Assembly ticket when he was a politi-

cal untouchable after the Jessica Lal

murder case.



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haryana real estate

SHARMA, who began his politi-

cal career as general secre-

tary of Chandigarh Congress

Committee, lost no time in becom-

general secretary of All India Youth

leadership, MLA, MP and Union min-

a time when even as a first-time MLA,

he was treated as virtual No. 2 and the

most resourceful State cabinet minis-

Chief Minister Chander Mohan, a

son Kartikeya heads Information TV

Pvt Ltd, which controls News X tel-

evision channel, Good Morning IndiaMedia Pvt Ltd and Aaj Samaj group of

newspapers.

It is alleged that any builder who

wants any new license, or any con-

cession, from Hooda has to neces-

own interests in real estate are taken

care of through a string of compa-

nies like Onkareshwar Properties

Private Limited, Mark Buildtech

Properties Private Limited, Shivam

Infotech Private Limited and PegasusDevelopers Shikhopur Pvt Ltd.

and reportedly owns 99 per cent

shares in Mark Buildtech, which has

business dealings with Onkareshwar

Properties. The two, incidentally,

` ` ` `

` ` ` `

` ` ` `

` ` ` `

` ` ` `

COMPANY


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are registered at the same address

in Nehru Place. Sushil Gupta, one

of the Directors of Onkareshwar

Properties, is a close aide of Hooda;

Harvinder Singh Chopra, a Director

in Mark Buildtech, is also Finance

Director of Piccadily Group; while

Rajender Bansal, a friend of Sharma

from Panchkula, is on the Board of

Directors of both the companies. The

other directors include Dhirender

Dadwal and Tarun Bhanot, a rela-

tive of Sharma. Mark Buildtech alleg-

edly has strong business linkages

with Vatika Ltd promoted by Anil and

Gautam Bhalla, who seemingly hasprospered from the association. In

fact, after the Haryana government

granted three land licenses to Vatika

unimaginably in three years.

IF it is not Sharma, another person

who can come up with miracles

and has direct access to the CM is

Kunal Bhadoo, the prodigal son of

Vijay Laxmi Bhadoo, a senior SAD-

BJP leader in Punjab. He is married to

International Accounting and Financefrom London School of Economics

and qualified Chartered Accountant

from ICAEW, UK, he worked for six

years in London for PwC LLP before

coming back to India in 2006 to start

Kunskapsskolan Eduventures India,

which runs three K-12 schools in

Jaipur, Karnal and Abohar. Kunal is

also Director of Havelock Developers

Pvt Ltd, Bhadoo Agritech at Abohar,

which is into contract processing

and packaging of citrus fruits and

fresh vegetables, Navyug Group of

Companies, Navyug Eduventures and

Satellite Forging Pvt Ltd, a joint ven-

ture with the JBM Group.

He is alleged to be an unofficial

along with his mother-in-law, Asha

Hooda; brother-in-law Deepinder

It is alleged that anybuilder who wants any

new license, or anyconcession, from Hooda

has to necessarily gothrough Venod Sharma,

Congress leader fromChandigarh



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haryana real estate

The arbitrary and ad-hocmanner in which

decisions are taken or

tenure can be judgedfrom just two examples:the Dwarka Expressway

and the NorthernExpress Road

Hooda and Venod Sharma. They

are virtually running a parallel

government in Haryana which has

transfer and postings of candidates

departmental committees to grant

licenses to favourite builders.

AS per market intelligence gath-

ered from buyers, sellers and

brokers, these days Badoo is

allegedly on a buying spree in Sector

70 and 70A, just outside the Master

Plan areas, along the Southern

Peripheral road. According toinformed sources, unwritten orders

are that anyone else who tries to

buy lands in this area should be

discouraged. In all probability, this

area will be included in another

revised or extended Master Plan justbefore the elections. The price shoots

up at least 50 times when it gets

included in the Master Plan.

One of the features of the Master

plan 2031, that has escaped the

attention, is a restriction that only

20 per cent of the total area can be

taken up by Group Housing Societies

in a particular sector. This has

opened up scope for discretionary

licenses, or refusal, on the plea

that the quota has been exceeded.

Another feature of the Master Plan

was to increase population density

figures in specific zones from 250-

300 people per hectare to over 1,000

people per hectare. This has opened

up floodgates for manipulation by

the politician-builder network. The

Haryana government is also likely to

come up with a new scheme of one-

acre farmhouses or country homes

outside the Master Plan areas inGurgaon, Sohna and other parts

of Haryana. That will be another

opportunity to make a fast buck for

builders/developers and brokers.

Already many people have started

buying huge tracts of land for the

purpose. Whenever they get struck,


15/53


LEGACY OF 12 CMs &

IN the last 23 years, Haryana has seen 12 CMs and

Lal, Banarsi Das Gupta and Om Prakash Chautala

(in the initial stages), all others favoured one or

the other builder. The biggest example of politi-

cal favouritism is the DLF, which is what it is today

because of the patronage given by Prime Minister

Rajiv Gandhi.

Bhajan Lal was the Chief Minister for close to

five years from January 22, 1980. He was clearly in

favour of the DLF, which managed to get 40 licensesfor some 1,123 acres of land, largely in Gurgaon.

& Infrastructure, its nearest rival, could just man-

age a toe-hold with 11 licenses for 442-acre land. Apart

from these two, all the seven others who managed to get

licenses from Bhajan Lal were insignificant players.

As soon as Bansi Lal became the Chief Minister on July

5, 1985, the wind started blowing in the opposite direc-

tion and Ansal Properties & Infrastructure became the hot

favourite, bagging the maximum licenses, followed by

DLF. Another significant contribution of Bansi Lal was the

limited entry of Unitech and Utility builders.

However, when Chaudhary Devi Lal became the ChiefMinister on July 17, 1987, not a single license was granted

to any developer. This tradition was maintained even

when his son Om Prakash Chautala remained the Chief

Minister from Dec 2, 1989, to May 22, 1990.

However, Dec 2, 1989

and first day of Om Prakash Chautala would go down in

the history of Haryana. On that single day, eight licenses

were approved: DLF Universal (5) in Gurgaon Sectors 24,

25, 25A, 27, 28 and 43; Ansal (2) Gurgaon Sectors 1, 2,

3, 17 and Unitech (1) Gurgaon Sectors 30, 40, 41. It may

be well worth investigating who sanctioned these licenses

on a single date and why. More so, when no license was

allotted two years before or two years after that date!After Chautala, Banarsi Das Gupta was the Chief

Minister from May 22, 1990, to July 12, 1990, and Chautala

again from July 12, 1990, to July 17, 1990. But, no license

was given in this period.

The jinx was broken when Hukam Singh, who was the

Chief Minister from July 17, 1990, to March 21, 1991, issued

licenses for the National Media Centre (21 acres) and toDurga Builder (127 acre).

Om Prakash Chautala became the Chief Minister

again from March 22, 1991, to April 6, 1991 and did not

issue any license during his term. After this, there was

President's Rule in the State from April 6, 1991, to July 23,

1991. Again, no licenses were issued in the period.

Chief Ministership July 23, 1991, to May 9, 1996 60

licenses were given. Those who benefitted included,

DLF (641 acres), Ansals (258 acres), Unitech (309 acres)

and others.

In the next three years May 11, 1996, to July 23, 1999

Bansi Lal tried to match the record by sanctioning 39 pro-jects over 793 acres of land in Gurgaon. Though Ansal was

the favourite, DLF and others too were granted licenses.

In his new term, from July 24, 1999, to March 4, 2005, Om

Prakash Chautala was a changed person and sanctioned

35 projects in Gurgaon over 463 acres of land.



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haryana real estate

they approach someone like Badoo,

builders. Here are a few examples:

Hooda fiddles, Haryana burns

EVER since he became Chief

Minister of Haryana on March 5,

2005; Hooda has retained all the

important administrative portfolios

like Justice Administration, Law and

Legislative, General Administration,

Administrative Reforms, Home,

Information, Public Relations and

Personnel and Training with him.

But his first love is urban develop-

ment. This is clear from the mannerin which he has retained all associ-

ated portfolios like Architecture,

Panchayat Development, Town and

Country Planning and Urban Estates

and Urban Local Bodies. He is also

the Chairman of the Town & Country

Planning (TCP), Haryana UrbanDevelopment Authority (HUDA)

and Haryana State Industrial

Development Corporation (HSIDC).

This gives him complete control over

all land deals in the State. In fact,

In 2005, when Hooda first became

CM, he had 67 seats in the 90-mem-

ber assembly. Every third MLA in the

State was a Congressman. As a result,

if a minister dared to step out of line, he

was firmly told to behave. But today,

with just 40 MLAs, to run the govern-

ment at the mercy of independents

is a big challenge. Hence, to keep the

prominent politicians happy, Hooda

79 present and former Haryana MPs

and MLAs at Mansa Devi Complex,

Panchkula at a throwaway price of

`

these plots were worth at least `1.5

crore in the open market. The ben-

eficiaries included his son Deepender

Singh Hooda besides Kumari Selja,

Venod Sharma, Kiran Chaudhary,

Navin Jindal, Raghuveer Kadian,

S

OON after coming to power,

one of the first PR exercise

of Hooda Government was todrastically reduce the compound-

ing, or conversion, fee for commer-

cial properties. This populist move

was aimed at gaining the goodwill

of lakhs of building bylaws violators

and those running business and com-

mercial establishments from residen-

tial premises. Such persons now just

had to pay `3,500, instead of `16,000

per square yard, for regularising their

buildings along 30-metre roads in

Gurgaon. Likewise, those in build-

ings along roads up to 30 metres hadto pay `3,000, against `14,000 per

square yard previously. Even peo-

ple in small towns like Faridabad,

Panchkula, Panipat, Sonepat, Karnal,

Kurukshetra, Ambala, Yamunanagar,

Bahadurgarh, Hissar, Rohtak, Palwal,

UNLAWFUL ACTS IN HOODA ERAHodal, Rewari and Sohna were given

massive concessions. For instance,

in Faridabad, the charges for build-ings along more than 30-metre roads,

were lowered from `9,200 to `2,000

per square yard. While the official plea

was that conversion charges would

improve the financial position of urban

local bodies, no one can deny that this

was actually a reward to the violators

of law.

A detailed analysis of Hooda gov-

trarily policies were drafted, modified

and backdated to favour builders and

individuals. For instance, a policy forrelease of land from acquisition (See

Box) was modified within 26 days of

being formulated in 2007. Once again,

it was modified in 2011. Likewise, policy

dated December 20, 2006, concerning

group of persons, needed reconsid-

eration within four months on April 24,

2007. Also, no explanation was offered

why many of these polices needed tobe backdated by over a year? A deeper

probe may unearth many a skeletons in

One of the first significant changes

Hooda brought about on April 24,

2007, was an amendment of an exist-

ing policy laid down by his government

on December 20, 2006. Interestingly,

obtained a license under the Haryana

Development and Regulation of Urban

Areas Act, 1975, by the Haryana Townand Country Planning Department

entry to those private developers, who

were applying for the first time. They

were given the option to sign a col-

laboration agreement with a group of

district, a clique of Sharad

Farms and Holdings,Sonika Properties and

all three subsidiaries of theconsortium formed by Zee

Group and Odeon

almost 637 acres


17/53


Randeep Surjewala, Phool Chand

Mulana, Kiran Choudhry, CaptainAjay Singh Yadav, Chander Mohan,

Hansraj Bhardwaj and Shamsher

Singh Surjewala. They would all have

been richer by a few crore rupees, but

for a last minute hurdle created by

the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

A division bench, comprising Chief

Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and

Justice Mahesh Grover, cancelled the

arbitrary allotments and the MPs and

MLAs were left high and dry.

SIMILARLY, the High Court

a former finance commissioner

and principal secretary, employed

as principal adviser to CM after

retirement. Describing this as a

persons licensed by the department to

.

Curiously, a ticklish policy dated

March 27, 2008 decided to give one-time relaxation to private schools,

whose applications were pending with

the Education Department for want of

recognition. The question is, how can

the TCP Department provide legiti-

macy to private schools yet to be rec-

ognised by the Education Department?

Obviously this was done as a favour.

Significantly, the policy regarding

grant of license to Cooperative Housing

Societies, dated September 15, 2008,

states that application of only those

Cooperative House Building Societies,which have any collaboration with

builders/developers having financial

capacity and technical expertise to

develop residential colonies, will be

considered for a license. This gave an

unfair advantage to the builders, with-

out whose involvement Cooperative

House Building Societies cannot

even apply for a license.

The manner in which HUDA didaway with the upper time limit to

complete the construction work,

smacks of a sell-out to the builder

lobby. Earlier, allottees could under-

take construction on a residential or

commercial plot within two years.

Now, an extension of up to 13 years

is possible after payment of a fee and

the allottee can take 15 years (2+13

years) for construction from the date

of possession. This new policy, that

came into effect from April 12, 2013,

is nothing but a ploy to renew thelicenses of non-performing builders.

The Haryana government has also

not used over `10,000-crore EDC for

creation of basic amenities collected

from the end-consumers through the

builders in the last five years.



18/53


haryana real estate


19/53




20/53


haryana real estate

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21/53


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22/53


23/53


chunks of land to Alaska Construction

and Vatika Ltd. Soon after, the farmers

entered into a sale deed with Rajnish

Sharma, MD of Alaska Construction and

then released under Section 5-A of the

Land Acquisition Act.The modus operandi to favour select

only condition is that an official gov-

ernment agency, like the HUDA or the

Haryana Housing Board or HSIDC, is

to be kept in the forefront. Even today,

the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, enacted

first in the 18th century Bengal, is one

of the unusually harsh and draconian

laws with lot of discretionary executive

powers. Cumbersome and costly proce-

dures make it a dreaded tool of State

oppression. It provides the legal basisfor acquisition of privately held land by

the government for public purposes.

educational, health institutions, hous-

ing, slum or rural development schemes

for general public welfare.

The process begins with a prelimi-

nary notice under Section 4 of the Act

for acquisition of land needed or likely

to be needed for any public purpose

and a notification from the district col-

Gazette and two daily newspapers.The biggest flaw in the Act is that

even in those cases where the land is

genuinely required in public interest

there is a considerable difference

between the market value of the prop-

erty and price offered to the landowner

by the land acquisition officers. Once

this notification is made, the owner is

prohibited from selling his property,

disposing it off or doing anything that

might affect its value or compensa-

tion without the prior permission of

the collector. In rural India, where agri-cultural land is being passed on from

one generation to another and there

are multiple owners and joint families,

this puts the fear of God in the mind of

the landowner.

Exploiting this loophole in the law,

private builders, developers and col-

onisers then approach farmers and

landowner, offering them slightly

more than what they expect from the

government. Most farmers give in at

this stage. However, if the landowner

refuses, the government department

issues a declaration under Section

6. The Deputy Commissioner, or any

other competent authority, may then

take possession of the land imme-

diately, which shall thereupon vest

absolutely with the government,

free from all claims, whatsoever.

Usually this makes the most reluc-tant landowners/ farmers to accept

brokered, the new owner the build-

er approaches the TCP Department

to award a license for development

of land in the stipulated Master Plan

area, under Section 9, and withdraw

the acquisition notice.

As per law, the government is at

liberty to withdraw from acquisi-

tion of land under Section 16 of the

Act at any stage before the physical

possession of land. So, in a smoothand legal manner, the government

withdraws its acquisition notice and

private developer makes his millions

from the instant price escalation.

Another related issue is change

of land use. This invariably requires

payment of EDC and official con-

between `25-50 lakh per acre, for

smooth, speedy and hassle-free

change of land use. The change of

land use seemingly has been one ofthe unwritten key policies of Hooda

government, which has allowed

conversion of 21,000-acre land from

agricultural to residential, industrial

or commercial over the last seven

odd years.

MODUS OPERANDI: HOWFAVOURS ARE GRANTED LEGALLY



24/53


haryana real estate

HARYANA today is not a State, but

real estate. Agricultural, forest or

defence, every bit of land in any

corner of the State is up for sale. And

the person responsible for it Hooda

is behaving not as the Chief Minister

but Chief Marketing and Business

Development Officer of Haryana.

is in need for such developmental

over-drive? The simple answer is that

Haryana envelops Delhi on three sideswith well defined roads, rail, nation-

al, international airports and other

infrastructure. Almost 29 National

Highways, covering over 1,461 km,

2,494 km-long State Highways and

Trunk (GT) Road pass through the State.

Gurgaon is today the fastest growing

and most talked-about business hub

with the highest concentration of mul-

tinational corporate offices. It is soon

going to have the `1,000 crore Rapid

Metro Rail(IL&FS 74 per cent equity share and DLF

26 per cent) railway project. But, while

Gurgaon has so far overshadowed other

areas like Faridabad, Sonepat, Panipat,

and Karnal, this hierarchical imbalance

is not going to last long. Even many

insignificant and relatively unheard of

places like Kondli, Manesar, Rewari,

Hissar, Palwal, Bhiwani, Bahadurgarh,

Jhajjar and Bawal are queuing up to

break the economic glass ceiling. The

effect of all this is a feverish pitch to

acquire land and identify new areas forinfrastructure development to meet the

needs of the growing population for

luxury, economy and low-cost housing,

commercial and entertainment centres,

public utilities, parks, and other urban

civic facilities.

Expressway, or Kundli-Mansear-

Palwal (KMP) Expressway, is going

to connect Kundli, Sonipat, Manesar,

Gurgaon, Faridabad and Palwal. It

will cross NH-1 near Kundli, NH-2 at

Palwal, NH-8 at Manesar and NH-10

at Western Bahadurgarh. Many inves-

tors are investing in residential and

commercial projects on both sides of

the expressway. Since the commence-

ment of work on the Expressway, land

prices in Kundli have increased from

`25 lakh per acre to `1.5 crore per

acre. Almost 242.55 acre land from 14

villages has been acquired for DwarkaExpressway, also called Northern

Express Road or Northern Peripheral

Road, which will cut down travel time

between Delhi, Gurgaon and Manesar.

This is going to be the lifeline for major

housing projects in Gurgaon-Manesar.

Almost 26 new sectors (99 to 115 and

58 to 67) are being developed along

this Expressway. Phase III of Metro

rail on this route will link IGI Airport

and Dwarka. Further, 12 specialised

hubs including Education City (5,000

Development Overdrive?The biggest blockbuster, of course,is the 1,483 km-long Delhi-Mumbai

Industrial Corridor (DMIC) a mega

US$90 billion infrastructure project

connecting Delhi and Mumbai being

built with financial and technical aid

from Japan. The highlights of this project

include a Golden Quadrilateral National

Highway and a Multi-modal High Axle

Load Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)

running parallel to each other between

Delhi and Mumbai. Starting fromDadri, in Delhi NCR, these would pass

through six States Uttar Pradesh,

Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and

terminate at Jawaharlal Nehru Port in

Mumbai, Maharashtra. Over 60 per cent

area of Haryana is directly or indirectly

influenced by DMIC. Several top-of-the-

line industrial estates, clusters, indus-

trial hubs and investment regions, like

Sonipat-Kundli and Manesar-Bawal,

are being developed along this corridor

with the help of grants and loans from

Indian and Japanese governments aswell as investments by Japanese and

Indian firms. The project area of this

ambitious DMIC project extends up

to 150 km on both sides of the Delhi-

Mumbai Dedicated Freight Corridor

and opens floodgate of opportunities

along NH-8, NH-2, NH-1 and NH -10 for

industrial, urban and supporting infra-

structure. Already Bawal has evolved

as a mega industrial hub with a large

numbers of multinational companies

lining up to set up their manufacturing

bases. Besides these, two investmentregions at Manesar-Bawal-Nimarana

and Kundli-Sonepat, as well as two

mega industrial areas are coming up at

Faridabad-Palwal and Rewari-Hissar to

capitalise on the locational advantages.

A 135.6 km-long Western Peripheral


25/53


acres), Sample Township (8,401 acres),

Cyber City (470 acres), Bio-sciences

City (1,370 acres), Jahangirpuri-Badli

Township (14,226 acres), Fashion City

(544 acres), Entertainment City (346

acres), World Trade City (650 acres),

Dry Port City (1,770 acres), Leather

City (691 acres) and Leisure City (1,853

acres) would be developed along

the KMP Expressway. The Southern

Peripheral Road and the Northern

Peripheral Road (Dwarka Expressway)

will form a ring around Gurgaon, allow-

ing long-distance inter-city and inter-

State vehicular traffic to bypass theGurgaon Expressway (NH8).

a Delhi-Gurgaon Expressway with the

largest 32-lane toll plaza in Asia on

NH8, a 8-lane flyover on Badarpur-

Faridabad stretch of Mathura Road

and a 4-lane highway in Yamuna Nagar

and Panchkula connecting Haryana

to Chandigarh (without entering

Punjab). Haryana already has Metro

Rail connecting Gurgaon, Faridabad

and Bahadurgarh to different parts of

Delhi. Many universities and colleges

are coming up in Khanpur, Murthal,

Karnal, Mewar and Faridabad. A

University on the pattern of Oxford

University in Sonipat a central univer-

sity in Mahendragarh, Lala Lajpat Rai

University of Animal Sciences in Hissar

and the first defense university in

Gurgaon should transform Haryana into

an international commercial and edu-

cational hub in the next 5-7 years. Half

part of NCR India's largest and world's

second-largest agglomeration with apopulation of 22,157,000. Haryana also

takes pride in the fact that large part of

its area is covered under the NCR, for

which NCRPB is providing soft loans up

to 75 per cent of the project cost.

Prima facie it may seem that Hooda

stole a march over Sheila Dikshit who

used to say that people from neighbor-

ing States could come, work and use

makes better sense from the point of

view of NCR to develop Haryana as a

sub-region so that people from nearby

areas do not have to migrate or travel to

population is arrested.

But, Hooda has ended up causing

more harm than good to Haryana. In

develop it, he has ended up widening

the gap between the rich and the poor

and ignored the real needs of people.

Haryana needs development, but not at

the cost of its citizens.

How many farmers in Haryana, or

their children, are going to benefit from

the integrated investment regions,mega industrial areas, malls, multi-

plexes, IT cities, educational, entertain-

ment, world trade and fashion hubs

being set up on the land of their fore-

fathers? Some of them have suddenly

found tonnes of money in their pock-

ets, but without the means to spend

it wisely. In most cases, the price of

all this will have to be paid in terms of

depression, suicides, family disputes,

drunken brawls, oppression of widows,

exploitation of weaker sections and

social tensions over distribution of thecompensation amount. Likewise, how

many of the literate farming youngsters

would suddenly land up with smart,

sophisticated white collar jobs in IT,

multinational and mega-million dollar

corporate giants? A bulk of the vacan-

cies in such companies will be filled by

highly technical foreigners, NRIs and

highly qualified public school-educated

Indians and the poor citizens of Haryan

might be deemed fit only to serve as

low-paid security guards, peons, driv-

ers or conductors in DTC and HaryanaRoadways buses, or low-level consta-

bles in Delhi and Haryana Police. Is this

and prosperity? Who wins if Haryana

and Haryanvis lose?



26/53


haryana real estate

interest of the builders/developers,

is proving to be a tricky legal issue.

That is besides the interests of people

of Sai Kunj, New Palam Vihar Phase-

III in Gurgaon, whose land too was

proposed to be acquired by Haryana

government.

Northern Express Road:

About 618.5 acres were acquired from

Pawala Khasroorpur, Chauma and

Kherki Dhaula villages for construc-

tion of a 150-metre wide and 25 kil-

ometre-long Northern Express Road.

This was expected to cost `120 crore

and reduce the travel time between

Delhi and Gurgaon, but nothing hasbeen done because of protracted

litigations. Fifteen kilometres of

this road passes through suburban

Gurgaon and 10 km through Delhi.

As things stand today, while HUDA

has acquired the land, it cannot take


27/53


OSingh Hooda, who is wearing a crownof thorns. At any given day, he has moreenemies within the Congress than outside. What

is worse, most of his one-time friends, supporters

and cabinet colleagues are among his sworn

enemies. The list of such friends-turned-foes

includes four-time MLA and heavyweight former

State cabinet minister Kiran Choudhry and her

daughter Shruti Choudhry, the Lok Sabha MP

father, late Choudhry Surender Singh, was two-

time MP and Haryana Agriculture Minister, and

her grandfather, Bansi Lal, was the Chief Minister

of Haryana. Likewise, former PWD Minister

Randeep Singh Surjewala, former Finance

Minister Capt Ajay

Singh Yadav, his son

Chiranjeev Rao, who

heads the Haryana

Youth Congress,

Gurgaon MP Rao

Inderjit Singh, former

Union Minister KumariSelja, AICC general

secretary Birender Singh and Rajya Sabha

MP Ishwar Singh are all friends-turned-foes.

Many senior Congress leaders, like Capt Ajay

Singh Yadav, Kumari Selja, Rao Inderjit Singh

and Birender Singh, have gone to the extent

of accusing Hooda of a development bias and

favouritism towards members of a particular caste

in government jobs. The Chairman of Haryana

Staff Selection Commission and a close relative

of Chief Minister Hooda allegedly played a key

role in most of these appointments. Significantly

two arch rivals Capt Yadav and Rao InderjeetSingh shed their differences and joined hands

to support the demand of 51 Ahirwal-dominated

villages of Rewari District whose 455 acres of land

was sought to be acquired by HUDA to develop

two residential sectors.

possession because of a restraint

order by the Punjab and Haryana

High Court till the final order. In the

first place, there was no need for the

road to pass through residential areas.

Secondly, the original path was alleg-

edly altered in the Master Plan after

it was discovered that it might other-

wise run through a commercial plot.

Most builder friendly CMHooda should go down in history

as the most builder friendly ChiefMinister. His is one of the most cor-

rupt, pro-builder and anti-farmer

Chief Minister Haryana has seen in

the last couple of decades. Political

pundits allege that big builders, cor-

porate houses and industrialists run

CRY IN THE WILDERNESS

FEEBLE VOICES



28/53


haryana real estate

1Has Haryana government ever

investigated the antecedents and

credentials of the companies before

they were allowed to acquire land in

Haryana and engage in colonisation,

buildings and consolidations of land?

2Has any one, including the income-

tax department, ever enquired the

source of funds flowing into these

companies, as also the fact whether

their net worth matches to that of thevalue of land they own, or have

acquired?

3Has the Haryana governmentchecked the antecedents of theChairman/ Managing Director/

Directors of the companies engaged in

land acquisition and colonisation?

4Has the Haryana government, or

any relevant agency, investigated

the changing shareholding pattern of

the companies that have acquiredhuge land in Haryana? It is suspected

that by changing the shareholding

pattern -- by selling a big stake --

these companies transfer the land in

the guise of transferring the share, due

to which the government has suffered

huge revenue losses.

5Has any concrete action been taken

by the Land Revenue Department

to assess and recover the said losses?

6Has the Haryana governmentasked for compliance reports from

builders, colonisers and land

consolidators regarding the

completion of the projects, as claimed

by them in the newspapers?

Questions for Hooda7How many builders and colonisershave been fined by the governmenton the issue of non-compliance?

8Has the Haryana government

investigated why builders, colonis-

ers and land consolidators are charg-

ing extra amount on flimsy grounds

from customers due to the delays in

the project, whereas the customer is

not responsible for any delay.

9Has the Haryana government

developed any mechanism to

address and rescue the customers

non-compliance of the terms and con-

tracts of the buyer-seller agreement

and delay of the project?

10How many of cases have been

filed against various builders in

various courts, including the Punjab

and Haryana High Court, and what are

the issues these cases raise?

11How almost 1,684 sq km forest

area in the State has become

barren?

12What was the rationale behind

Chief Minister Hooda holding all

departments related to land and urban

development with himself? Was there

no competent MLA in entire Haryana

Assembly or was it to control land

deals?

13It is alleged that as the Chief

Minister you are responsible

for conversion of vast stretches

(approximately 3,500 sq km) of fertile

and cultivable land into jungles of con-

crete. Your comment.

14Why did you change the exist-

ing policy on April 24, 2007, to

Was it done with the ulterior motive to

pave the way for backdoor entry of cer-

tain developers of your choice?

15Why did you give one-time

relaxation to private schools

run by your coterie through Town and

Country Planning Department on

March 27, 2008, despite their applica-tions being pending with education

department for want of recognition?

Was it done to accommodate your son-

in-law, who is in the business of edu-

cation and has ambitious plans in this

sector?

16Is it true that your policy dated

September 15, 2008, regarding

grant of licences to only those cooper-

ative housing societies who enter into

collaboration with reputed builders

with certain financial qualification, wasallegedly created to benefit the build-

ers of your choice?

17Why Hooda gave an extended

time limit to builders to con-

struct the project upto 15 years, by

passing and earlier limit of two years

from date of possession. It is alias that

it was done and the order was issued

to favor the group of builders of

18Is it true that your governmenthas not yet utilised the amount

of approximately `10,000 crore collect-

ed towards External Development

Charges (EDC) from the end consumers

through the builders in the last five

years for creation of basic amenities?


29/53


19 Why did you gift HUDA resi-

dential plots to present and

former Haryana MPs and MLAs at

Mansa Devi Complex, Panchkula, at

throwaway prices of `28 lakh each

when the worth of the those plots was

at least `1.5 crore each in the open

market?

20Is it true that the beneficiariesin the above largesse includedyour son Deepender Singh Hooda,

besides Kumari Shelja, Venod Sharma,

Kiran Chaudhary, Navin Jindal,

Raghuveer Kadian, RandeepSurjewala, Phool Chand Mulana, Kiran

Chaudhary, Captain Ajay Singh Yadav,

Chander Mohan, Hansraj Bhardwaj and

Shamsher Singh Surjewala and select

officers of your choice?

21Why was the direction of

Dwarka Expressway changed?

Was it done to safeguard the

commercial interest of some of your

favoured builders/developers at the

cost of hundreds of residents of Palam

Vihar area in Haryana?

22Why did you change the origi-nal path of Northern ExpressRoad? It is alleged that it was sanc-

tioned to please some of your favourite

builders and developers?

23Why did you shift the powersof the DTCP to grant or refusethe licences to the office of the minis-

ter in-charge, which happens to be the

this was done to directly give massivebenefits to builders like BPTP?

24allotted the first and the single licence

under HUDA 1975 Act?

25Is it true that you favoured

prominent builders -- like, DLF,

Unitech, BPTP, Ansals, Vatika Ltd,

Suncity Projects, Emaar MGF, Bestech

Ltd, Raheja Developers, TDI and

Omaxe -- in May 2009 by one-time

relaxation under the garb of reserving

10 per cent area for low-cost housing

in their group housing colonies, which

allegedly no builder complied with?

26Why no action has been taken

against the said defaulting

builders?

27Why did you bring in the policy

of removal of height restric-

tions for group housing and commer-

cial projects? This order allegedly

doled out benefits/favours to 391

group housing societies and 57 com-

mercial projects.

28What was the rationale behind

increasing the per hectare

population density in Haryana?

29You have allegedly createdthree Master Plans which will

create concrete jungles without provid-

ing the provisions of water, electricity,

sewerage, etc. Your comment?

30As per the norms, one plan isimplemented in full and onlythan another plan is envisaged. You

have stated that you will implement

the Master Plan of 2031. Who has

given you this mandate as your

mandate is only till 2014? Are you so

sure of retaining power for another twodecades?

31Why have you created a virtualmonopoly of builders in differ-ent parts of the State? Like in Rohtak,

where different subsidiaries of Sonica

builders control 66.5 per cent of the

total land licences allotted in your

regime. The same story is there in

every district of Haryana.

32Why no action is being taken

against the shell companies

and subsidiaries of various builders

which are out to bypass the land

holding laws in the State and also

avoid registry charges on transfer of

ownership of immovable property?

33It is alleged that you and the

State machinery have helpedBPTP suddenly become the biggest

and richest company in the State,

with their business taking a quantum

jump after you became CM. Your

comment.

34Why did you reduce the

compounding and conversion

fees for commercial properties? It is

alleged that the decision was meant

to benefit the select violators of

building by-laws, who have also

cheated the State exchequer.

35It is alleged that the

proposed changes in the

Master Plan were leaked to favoured

builders like Ramprastha, BPTP, etc.,

who took advantage of such

information and purchased huge

stretches of land in the very sectors,

hence benefitting to the tune of

thousands of crores.

36

It is alleged that the Haryana

government is run byde-fecto Chief Ministers like Venod

Sharma, Kunal Bhadoo, Arvind Walia,

Anil Sharma, Sameer Gehlaut, KP

Singh and Kabul Chawla. What made

you allow these extra constitutional

authorities to act on your behalf?



30/53


haryana real estate

a rubber stamp. An example of how

prominent builders manage to bend

policy matters is seen in the meet-

ing chaired by Hooda with repre-

sentatives of DLF, Unitech, BPTP,

Ansals, Vatika Ltd, Suncity Projects,

Emaar MGF, Bestech Ltd, Raheja

Developers, TDI and Omaxe in May

2009. Assembly elections were round

the corner and the government want-

ed the developers to announce popu-

list low-cost housing schemes.

S

O, at the behest of Vatika Ltd,

ers who applied for Group Housing

Colony as part of their plotted colony

by the next day and were prepared to

reserve 10 per cent area for low-cost

housing. In fine print it meant that

a builder who agreed to do so would

get to build four additional large flats

per acre. In one instance, the govern-

ment even announced 40,000 afford-

able homes for `12.5-`16 lakh each.

About 10 top-notch builders were

given licenses for 200 acres of land

in Gurgaon. But till date, not a single

apartment is nearing completion. An

irrefutable fact is that no one wants to

build low-cost housing projects for the

poor. The builders keep exploiting the

sentiments behind it to get favours for

themselves, but do not actually take

such projects seriously.

Another example of behind-the-

scene administrative support is howHUDA first earmarked one million sq.

Sector 29, but kept unnecessarily

delaying the auction to give the build-

ers a chance to sell their properties at

high rates.

A cruel joke, however, is how the

new Gurgaon Master Plan tries to

pack all economically weaker and

Haryana Chief Minister

Bhupinder Singh Hooda has

been ruling the State with the

help of his trusted officers for the

last nine years. Hooda appointed

ML Tayal, a 1976 batch IAS officer of

the Haryana cadre, as his first Principal

Secretary in March 2005. Tayal, who

hails from Hissar, was his college

friend and both had good rapport. A

keen golfer, Tayal was known as a

frank and blunt officer. It is reported

that Tayal was brought in because

he had the experience of Town and

Country Planning. Sources disclosed

that Chhattar Singh, a 1980 batch IAS

officer, who was already working as

Additional Principal Secretary was

brought in as Principal Secretary at

the recommendation of Tayal when the


31/53


50 hectares of land in Sector 68. This

means confining them into unhy-

gienic and insanitary ghettoes having

population density of more than 1,125

people per hectare.

In his two stints over the last seven

years, Hooda has broken all records

of the past 23 years and granted over

1,000 licenses to builders to develop

all kinds of plots, group housing soci-eties, commercial plots, IT Parks, IT

Cities and low-cost housing projects.

While 12 of his predecessors managed

to grant licenses for just 8,550.32 acres,

Hooda has granted licenses for 21,447

acres. A majority of these licenses


Hooda has looked after the interests

of both the officers, given the long

secrets, by respectably rehabilitating

them. Tayal is the member of

Competition Commission of India and

Chhattar Singh is a Member of the

Union Public Service Commission.

Sudeep Singh Dhillon, a senior IAS

officer of 1984, was appointed as the

new Principal Secretary on August 30,

2013. Dhillion, an upright officer, hasvaried experience of administration.

He has also worked as Vice-Chairman

of HUDA.

The second most important officer is

a 1985 batch officer, Dr Krishan Kumar

Khandelwal. As Principal Secretary to

the Chief Minister, he looks after

media and public relations.

Due to his innovative ideas and

media management, Hooda won a

good number of seats in the last

assembly elections. Ironically,

Dhillon and Khandelwal are at

loggerheads but both are loyal to

the Chief Minister.

It is reported that apart from

these two important functionaries

of the Haryana Government, TC

Gupta, Director General and SpecialSecretary, Town and Country

Planning and Urban Estates

Departments, 1987-batch IAS officer

of Haryana cadre is eyes and ears

of Hooda regarding land-related

matters.


32/53


haryana real estate

TSingh Hooda must have been a dreamer inhis life and must have been a good sketchmas-

ter, believing in creating castles, towns, casinos

on paper. The moment he got an opportunity to

turn his visions into reality, he used the Haryana

line bordering Gurgaon, which is now called theDwarka-Gurgaon Expressway. It is a dreamland and

goldmine for builders. According to the International

Monetary Fund (IMF), the growth rate of India is 3.2

per cent. The inference of this is that there is no

major industrial activity happening in India. So, one

needs a place where the resources can be placed for

profit. Hooda has facilitated all the speculators and

Gurgaon Expressway. As per real estate experts, the

expressway is a gold mine worth `2 lakh crore. It is

definitely not just a connecting road from Dwarka

small or big builder who is not present there. Theircolourful hoardings indicate the boundary walls of

their money spinning mill, acres of what was once

flourishing farmland.

Dwarka Expressway:Neither express


33/53


gfiles team travelled to the expressway to ascer-

tain first hand what is happening on the ground. It

takes almost an hour to locate the expressway as

nobody except the builders knows the exact loca-

or the chaotic Old Bus Stand of Gurgaon, approach-

ing a 20-feet road further and then going zig-zag

through the village. Then you see a bizarre scene,

the actual sketch drawn by Hooda on the ground

way connects or what it connects. The moment you

reach the expressway and travel from one end to

another, it is not a smooth journey at all. The obsta-

nalas, blockades,

a temple and even houses. Or, suddenly the road

just disappears. One has to go through a twisting

kachha track to reconnect with the road. The only

roads which seem to be of some calibre are the onesleading to builder plots.

The builders have started basic construction, just

to advertise in newspapers that actual site construc-

tion is going on. This is to collect huge amounts of

money from unsuspecting and honest customers,

who are sitting miles away visualising designer

houses at sites which are just fields and mud. The

gfiles team visited one of the builders to see his

model villa. It was truly a dream house. The price

tag: `4.5 crore, but without water, electricity, road,

hospital, schools, etc.

The builders are there in full strength. When the

expressway will see the light of day, nobody knows.But the villages and their acquired lands are already

reduced to slums, turning the lives of the people

there upside down.



34/53


haryana real estate

and bulk of the land in the last seven-

and-a-half years of Hooda rule have

been cornered by a clique of just 33

builders. These include Countrywide

Promoters, Ansal Properties &

Infrastructure, DLF, New Gurgaon

Home Developers, Intime Promoters

(TDI), Omaxe Housing & Developers,

Unitech, Vatika Land Base, Parsavnath

Developers, Emaar MGF Land, IREO

KSS Properties, Sonika, Chintals

India, AN Buildwell, Bestech India,

Uddar Gagan, Reliance Haryana SEZ,

Rangoli Projects, India Bulls Estates,

Vipul Infrastructure Developers,

Dwarkadhis Buildwell, RahejaDevelopers, Ramprastha Buildwell,

Pioneer Urban Land & Infrastructure,

Herman Fin Properties, Grandeur

Real Estate, Uppal Housing, Jai

Krishna Artec JV, Mapsco Buildwell,

Parveen Gupta, Vipin Gupta, ERA

Infrastructure, Martial Buildcon,

Desert Moon Realtors Pvt Ltd and

Orris Infrastructure. Each of them can

be said to be a direct beneficiary of the

they have not only have managed toget large banks of 100 acres, but in

a cool, calculated manner have been

given virtual monopoly in different

parts of the State.

HOODA is the uncrowned king

of Rohtak, which is often

political capital. In Jat dominat-

and political constituency, a clique

of Sharad Farms and Holdings,

Sonika Properties and Uddar Gagan

of the consortium formed by Zee

636.75 acres of land. This gives them

a virtual monopoly in the market

with 66.5 per cent land licenses in the


35/53


district since the day Hooda becameCM in 2005. Similarly, in Panipat,

Ansal Properties & Infrastructure

has bagged 346 acre land and 25

per cent of all licenses. The same

story is repeated in Sonipat where

Intime Promoters has managed to get

887 acres of land and overall 29 per

cent of all licenses. Ansal Properties

& Infrastructure holds 75.6 per

cent, i.e., 167.34 out of 221.24 acres

licensed in Yamuna Nagar-Jagadhari

and 125 acre, that is 33 per cent

land licensed in Kurukshetra. OmaxeConstruction commands Palwal mar-

ket with 35.6 per cent land, while

Baderwals Infraprojects, VPN Real

Estate and Choice Real Estate

Developers have complete monop-

oly with 100 per cent land licenses

in Mahendergarh, Sirsa and Bawal,

respectively. Countrywide Promoters

is the undisputed king of Faridabad

with 1,282 acre of the 2,402 acre

licenses. Gurgaon is a different ballgame. Though Ansal Properties,

Anant Raj Industries, Countrywide

Promoters, Commander Realtors,

Chintals India and Bestech India have

all managed to have their own pock-

ets of influence in the new areas, DLF

Ltd has the overall edge in Gurgaon.

Many of the builders use shell com-

panies and subsidiaries for obtaining

ceiling act, done away with recently.

A common practice among develop-

ers is to have a matrix of companies to

conceal the actual purchase. At a later

date, the subsidiary, or the shell com-

pany, is bought or sold with the land

to avoid registry charges, even thoughthis violates the law on transfer of

ownership of immovable property.

Planned urban disaster

THE fact that three unwanted,

undesirable and untimely

Master Plans 2021, 2025 and

2031 were introduced within 7 years

is symbolic of a methodical and bru-

tal exploitation of residential, com-

mercial and industrial land under

agenda behind these frequent chang-es in Master Plans was allegedly to

favour few individuals and builders.

Only Hooda can say what he gained;

the only thing that appreciated in the

process was real estate prices, that

too in a few pockets of the State. In

the overall context, Haryana and its

citizens will continue to pay the price

in the years to come.

One of the first things that Hooda

did after coming to power was to

change the industrial policy of the

State and make it favourable forreal estate development. Within

15 months of taking over, Hooda

released the first draft of Master

Plan 2021 on July 11, 2006. Intime

Promoters, Countrywide, Omax,

Vipul Infrastructure, Bestech India,

(left);

(bottom left)


Many of the builders useshell companies and

subsidiaries for obtaining

the land ceiling act, doneaway with recently.


36/53


haryana real estate

Parshavnath Developers, Unitech and

M3M were the direct beneficiaries.

They allegedly went on a buying spree

at the right time and gained heavily

from the price escalation after Master

Plan 2021. Within next six months,

Hooda notified the final Master Plan

on February 5, 2007. This plan saw

many land use changes from SEZ/

public and semi-public/industrial use

to residential use in Sectors 37C, 37D,

95, and 107 of Gurgaon. Significantly,

Ramprastha Builders made a for-

tune buying land in these sectors.

The company purchased lands in

the name of its subsidiary firmsRamprastha Estates, Ramprastha

Greens, Ramprastha Towers and

Ramprastha Buildwell in Sectors 37D,

92, 95. According to informed sourc-

es, Hooda is allegedly one of the silent

partners in Ramprastha Builders.

The State government converted

500 acres of agricultural land in

Sectors 63A and 67A of Gurgaon to

residential land use in the draft Master

Plan 2025, released on October 4,

2010, and notified on May 24, 2011. A

year later, 2,200 acres of SEZ land wasconverted into residential/commer-

cial use, and parts of Sector 115 (81.57

to commercial use on November 15,

2012 in the draft Master Plan 2031,

released and notified on September

4, 2012. The only explanation for such

unprecedented and frequent revision

is lobbying by coterie of builders,

developers, brokers and politicians to

drastically increase the value of their

cheaply acquired lands and makea fast buck. The real impact of the

Gurgaon-Mansesar Master Plans is

that even the price of land in relatively

nondescript areas like Wazirpur and

Hayatpur, acquired for `25 lakh about

a decade ago, has skyrocketed to over

`6-7 crore an acre.

T

HE Gurgaon Master Plan by-

priorities and is being described

damaging for the green areas and nat-

ural water bodies in the already eco-

logically fragile area. Many of the new

areas in the Master Plan are sought to

be carved out of natural water stor-

age and drainage systems, including

and bunds. For Gurgaon,

which already has acute shortage and

absence of any natural source of water

for the growing urban population,

this has serious consequences in the

long run. The main drawbacks in theMaster Plans are:

1. Hidden agenda seems to

be expansion of real estate:

Interestingly, the only thing that

changes with every revision of the

Master Plan (MP) is land available for

residential, commercial and indus-

trial development. For instance, resi-

dential land increases from 14,930

hectares (MP 2021) to 15,148 hectares

(MP 2025) and, then, 16,010 hectares

(MP 2031). Similarly, commercial

land increases from 1,404 hectares(MP 2021) to 1,429 hectares (MP

2025) and 1,616 hectares (MP 2031),

while industrial land decreases from

5,441 hectares (MP 2021) to 5,431

hectares (MP 2025) and 4,613 hec-

tares (MP 2031). The ulterior motive

behind the new Master Plan seems

to be to allegedly benefit some close

friends of Hooda. The entire process

is kept so secret that only a handful

of people with inside information get

the advantage.

2. Fault lines: The Master Plan

seems to overestimate the rate of

population growth to somehow justifyrapid urban expansion and addition

of 58 new sectors to the existing

57 sectors.

3. Just plans, no action: It makes

no sense to release three Master Plans

within 7 years and with so many

changes between the Draft and the

final Master Plan. It defies logic to

talk about Master Plan 2031 when the

planning goals and objectives of even

2021 and 2025 have not been met.

4.Arbitrary and unfair

You scratch my back, I will scratch

strong politician-bureaucrat-builder

nexus in Haryana. Politicians and

bureaucrats invest their surplus and

ill-gotten wealth in the construction

(right);

(below)


37/53



industry. The builders, in turn, recip-

rocate by providing funds and logisti-

cal support during the elections.

An industrial zone, mentioned in

the Gurgaon-Manesar Master Plans

2021 and 2025, is suddenly convert-

ed into agriculture zone in Master

Plan 2031. That apart, its land ownersare arbitrarily denied permission to

get the land use changed.

If the idea behind revision of 2025

Plan was to reallocate the land associ-

ated with the failed SEZ, what was the

justification of acquisition of land in

Wazirpur, Hayatpur, Mohammadpur,

Gharouli Khurd, Gharouli Kalan and

Harsaru for creation of new residential

and commercial facilities in Sectors

36B, 37B, parts of 37D, 68, 88A, 88B,

89A, 89B, 95A, 95B and 99A.

Though Sector 16 was reservedfor public and semi-public use, it was

changed to Special Zone where group

housing, commercial and entertain-

ment projects are allowed.

Increase in population density

from 250 to 625 people per hectare

of Sectors (part 42), 43, 53, and 54 is

another disguised attempt to keep the

builders happy.

Definitions, as well as rules and

the Master Plan are not clear.

THE list of builders who benefit-ted from the frequent changes

in land use also include Ashok

having 396 acres of prime land in

Sectors 104, 106, 108, 109 and 114

DLF, Bestech, Pareena Group and

Indiabulls Real Estate Limited. India

Bulls Managing Director Narendra

Gehlaut, an electrical engineer from

Delhi College of Engineering and law

graduate from University of Delhi,

is the brother-in-law of Deepinder

Mirdha, is sister of Congress MP Jyoti

Mirdha, who is married to N

rs. 20 lakh crore haryana realestate scam

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