Setback for Robert Vadra: SC rejects plea, Income Tax Department to probe SkyLight Hospitality over DLF land deal

In a setback to Robert Vadra, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday dismissed a plea against a probe by the Income Tax Department (IT-D) into a firm, SkyLight Hospitality Private Limited, linked to Vadra, according to media reports. Congress party chief Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law, a director in the firm, had moved the apex court seeking a halt to the investigation.

SC denies relief to #RobertVadra-firm: #SupremeCourt refuses to junk Income Tax reassessment notice to #SkyLight Hospitality LLP over DLF land deal. Appeal by Vadra firm dismissed by court, saying the facts required no intervention. @News18Courtroom

— Utkarsh Anand (@utkarsh_aanand) April 6, 2018

The SC said it is satisfied with the explanations provided by I-T officials justifying their investigation – the Department wants to reassess SkyLight’s 2010-11 land deals in Haryana and Rajasthan. The top court also agreed that the IT-D probe was not a case of political vendetta, as claimed. In 2017, the Justice SN Dhingra Commission concluded that Robert Vadra made illegal profits of Rs 50.5 crore from a land deal in Haryana in 2008 without spending a single penny. The Economic Times reported that the commission’s report has demanded an inquiry into the properties bought by Vadra. The commission was constituted in 2015 to investigate a mutation of land deal between Vadra’s firm Skylight Hospitality and realty major DLF. The Dhingra Commission had submitted its 182-page report to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar in Chandigarh on 31 August, 2016. The content of the investigation, which looked into nearly 250 land deals struck by the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s Haryana government, was not made public then. “I have named each and every person involved, whether private or government,” he said, adding that “had there been no irregularity, I would have submitted a one-line report. My report has 182 pages,” Dhingra had said at a press conference in August 2016. The state government sent the report, which was in a sealed cover, to the Supreme Court last week. [caption id=“attachment_3410930” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of Robert Vadra with brother-in-law and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi. PTI[/caption] The Commission was constituted under Section 3 of The Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952. The one-man commission was probing the grant of licences for change in land use (CLU) in four villages of Gurgaon, including the licence granted to a company (Sky Light Hospitality Private Limited) owned by Vadra. The Dhingra-led commission got three extensions since it was set up in May 2015. The commission had the mandate to investigate the circumstances of the grant or rejection of the licences for the development of colonies, group housing societies and commercial complexes in those sectors of Gurgaon for which lands in the areas of Shikohpur, Sikanderpur, Badah and Kherki Dhaula were used. It had investigated whether the transfer of licence by the original licencee within a short period of time was in violation of the law and caused a loss of revenue to the state government. Vadra has been accused of transferring his licence to DLF in violation of the law and causing a huge loss to revenue. Initially, the commission was given time of six months to submit its report, however, its tenure was extended for another six months till 7 June, 2016, with same terms and conditions.