The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday put Enforcement Directorate (ED) on notice on the petitions of Congress leader Motilal Vora and Associated Journals Limited (AJL), publisher of National Herald newspaper.
The high court bench of chief justice SJ Vazifdar and justice Anupinder Singh Grewal has sought response by May 23 on the petitions seeking quashing of enforcement case investigation report (ECIR) registered by ED.
Motilal Vora is the chairman of AJL and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi are also shareholders in it.
The ECIR registered on July 15, 2016 by Chandigarh office of the ED was based on a May 5, 2016 FIR of the Haryana vigilance bureau regarding allegations of cheating and corruption against former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and others for allegedly re-allotting an industrial plot in Panchkula to AJL.
Later in December, the Haryana government had recommended a CBI probe into the case.
The plot had been initially allotted to AJL in 1982. After the expiry of the lease period in 1996, Haryana Vikas Party government led by Bansi Lal took back its possession. It was re-allotted to AJL after the Congress came to power in 2005.
{{/usCountry}}The plot had been initially allotted to AJL in 1982. After the expiry of the lease period in 1996, Haryana Vikas Party government led by Bansi Lal took back its possession. It was re-allotted to AJL after the Congress came to power in 2005.
{{/usCountry}}One more petition by AJL through Vora is already pending before the high court in which AJL had sought a copy of the ECIR.