Haryana examining land lease to Rajiv Gandhi trust

Chandigarh, March 18 (IANS) The Haryana government is examining if any illegality was done in allowing the lease of five acres of prime land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) in Gurgaon by the state's previous Congress government of then chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Haryana's Industries and Commerce Minister Captain Abhimanyu on Wednesday said the matter was being examined.

The RGCT had taken the land on lease in Ullahwas village in Gurgaon district to set up an eye hospital. The land in question is located in demarcated residential area falling under Sectors 58 to 63 in Gurgaon.

The RGCT trustees include powerful people like Congress president and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), which had found major irregularities in release of the land to the RGCT, had rejected justifications of Haryana's Town and Country Planning (TCP) department for the release of land and for allowing change of land use (CLU) to the RGCT for setting up an eye hospital.

The CAG report came in April 2013.

The minister said the government was also examining the release of 912 acres of land in the Manesar industrial belt in Gurgaon district by the Hooda government.