The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publisher of the National Herald, on the appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the order quashing charges against them in the alleged illegality surrounding the re-allotment of a plot in Panchkula.
A bench of justices Dipankar Datta and SC Sharma issued notice on CBI’s appeal challenging the HC judgment of February 25 and posted the matter for further hearing in July.
Solicitor general Tushar Mehta appeared for CBI along with additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju alleging that the HC failed to appreciate the evidence that made out offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The HC ruling had quashed the entire case against Hooda and AJL on the ground that the CBI failed to make out a “prima facie” case.
As per the chargesheet filed by the CBI in 2018, the AJL had in the year 1981 applied for allotment of land to establish an office of “Daily National Herald” for publication of daily newspaper “Nav Jiwan” in Hindi edition. The request was accepted and a plot measuring less than an acre was allotted by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in August 1982 at the rate of ₹91 per square yard on ‘no profit, no loss’ basis.
Out of the total cost of ₹2,73,000, the company was directed to make 25% deposit pursuant to which possession of the plot was handed over. In terms of the allotment clause, AJL had to start construction within six months from the date of possession and complete it within two years. The company failed to start the construction and the plot was resumed by HUDA for violation of terms and conditions of allotment.
In 1996, AJL requested restoration of the plot but the company was informed that the allotment stood cancelled due to non-construction within the stipulated period, and appeal as well as revision against cancellation had also been dismissed. In 2005, the Indian National Congress formed the government in the state under Hooda as chief minister who re-allotted the plot measuring 3,500 square metres in favour of AJL.
Challenging the CBI case against them, Hooda and AJL had argued in the high court that no illegality can be attributed to them for re-allotment of land. The HC bench of justice Tribhuvan Dahiya held, “Continuation of prosecution will be an abuse of the process of court…the petitioners stand discharged.”
By this order, the April 16, 2021, order of a special CBI court that framed charges under Sections 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the former CM and AJL was set aside.
The case, first registered by the state vigilance bureau in 2016, was taken over by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2017 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power in the state.
At the time of registration of the FIR, former Congress leader Moti Lal Vora was the chairman of AJL and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were its shareholders. The CBI had chargesheeted Hooda and AJL in December 2018 in connection with the re-allotment of the plot situated at institutional plot (C-17) in Sector 6, Panchkula.
According to the CBI, Hooda allowed the re-allotment of the plot, now worth multiple crores, to AJL at the original 1982 rate of ₹59 lakh, thus resulting in loss to the public exchequer. The HC held that the re-allotment decision was ratified by the competent authority and has neither been declared illegal nor cancelled by any court or tribunal.
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