Haryana parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Surjewala on Friday rubbished the allegations leveled by INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala that AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi had not paid appropriate stamp duty on purchase of 51.13 kanal land in Palwal district.
Speaking on the behalf of the state government, Surjewala said that the statements given on October 17 and 18 by Chautala leveling allegations of alleged non-payment of appropriate stamp duty on purchase of 6.456 acres (51 kanal-13 marlas) of land situated in Village Hassanpur, tehsil hodel, district Palwal, Haryana by Rahul Gandhi were completely false and that Chautala had led his entire political career based on falsehood, misconceptions and his mannerism of hoodwinking the people.
Stating that Chautala and both his sons were facing serious charges of corruption in a case of disproportionate assets and fudging the entire recruitment process in the recruitment of JBT Teachers, Surjewala said that charges had also been framed by the special court of CBI in both cases and trial under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other offences was at an advanced stage.
In addition, Chautala was facing a vigilance and high court investigation in case of recruitments made in Haryana Civil Services, he said and added that recently, a division bench of Supreme Court of India had sought a status report from CBI qua Chautala for conducting fudged recruitments in Haryana Civil Services special recruitment drive.
All this coupled with two successive defeats in 2005 and 2009 assembly elections and loss of all 10 out of 10 seats in 2004 and 2009 parliamentary elections had unnerved Chautala in leveling such reckless allegations for finding political space that had been denied to him by people of Haryana, he added.
Stating that on March 3, 2008, Rahul Gandhi purchased 6.456 acre of 'sailab' (submerged) land for a total purchase price of Rs 26, 47,000 which was equivalent to Rs 4,10,006 per acre, Surjewala said that as per letter No. 924/27/RA dated 13-07-2007 issued by the then collector, collector rate for 'sailab' land was Rs 1.50 lakh an acre. "This collector rate continued to exist up to April 11, 2008. Rahul Gandhi had paid stamp duty of 6% amounting to Rs 1,58,820 on the purchase price of Rs 26,47,000 at the rate of Rs 4,10,006 per acre, which was over 2.7 times the prevailing collector rate. Hence, allegation made by Chautala qua any under payment of stamp duty was nothing but a bunch of irresponsible lies," he added.
{{/usCountry}}Stating that on March 3, 2008, Rahul Gandhi purchased 6.456 acre of 'sailab' (submerged) land for a total purchase price of Rs 26, 47,000 which was equivalent to Rs 4,10,006 per acre, Surjewala said that as per letter No. 924/27/RA dated 13-07-2007 issued by the then collector, collector rate for 'sailab' land was Rs 1.50 lakh an acre. "This collector rate continued to exist up to April 11, 2008. Rahul Gandhi had paid stamp duty of 6% amounting to Rs 1,58,820 on the purchase price of Rs 26,47,000 at the rate of Rs 4,10,006 per acre, which was over 2.7 times the prevailing collector rate. Hence, allegation made by Chautala qua any under payment of stamp duty was nothing but a bunch of irresponsible lies," he added.
{{/usCountry}}Surjewala said that since consolidation in 1974-75 till date, the land in question of village Hassanpur had always been recorded as 'sailab' land and during this entire period, many governments including that of Chautala had remained in power. He added that contrary to what Chautala was alleging, even in the registration deed, land is specifically defined as 'sailab' land based on the revenue record before the registering authority (Tehsildar, Hodel).
"Allegation being leveled to the contrary by Chautala was another attempt to muddy the water by his politics of falsehood," Surjewala said and added that Chautala should apologize to Rahul Gandhi and to the people of Haryana for his false and untrue statements.