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http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/200...haryana.htm#10
Chandigarh, October 26
The first family of Haryana, the Chautalas, are worth over Rs 10,000 crore. This is the estimate arrived at by a high-level committee set up by the state Congress to inquire into the alleged misdeeds of the Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, and his family.
The committee, headed by a former Haryana Congress president, Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, is in the last stages of finalising its report after visiting various parts of the state and the country. Its other members are Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Mr Birender Singh and Mr Harpal Singh, all former party chiefs; Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, officiating Leader of the Haryana Congress Legislature Party; and Mr Phool Chand Mullana and Mr Karan Singh Dalal, both former ministers. Mr Jagdish Nehra and Mr Ran Singh Mann, both former ministers, are permanent special invitees to the meetings of the committee.
According to reliable sources, the committee in its report, described as a charge-sheet, has said that in 1977 when the Chautalas first came to power, they owned merely 30 acre of agriculture land. Now their assets, the committee’s report says, include thousands of agricultural land, hotels, commercial complexes, residential and commercial plots and other prime properties.
The report alleges that the ruling family has made these assets by influencing the decision-making power of official machinery in favour of the chosen ones by compromising the interests of the state. Some of the fields in which the Chief Minister and his family, the Congress alleges, used their influence in an illegal and unauthorised manner were the change of land use (CLU), mining, auction of liquor vends, exemptions to various industries from the local area development tax (LADT), extortion from industrialists and issue of no-objection certificates for installing patrol pumps.
The sources say the well-documented report, which is supported by a large number of photographs of the properties allegedly owned by the Chautalas, also claims that the INLD supremo also collected money in the name of the ousted Fiji Prime Minister, Mr Mahendra Choudhary, and from the allocation of land by the Haryana State Industries Development Corporation.
The report alleges that the Chautalas have collected huge assets in the garb of the Devi Lal Memorial Trust.
The charge-sheet alleges that illegal money was also made through the release of the land acquired for public purpose and the land still under the acquisition proceedings and by granting special concessions to big builders and colonisers.
It also lists various properties purported to be owned by the Chautala family. The list includes 4000 acre of land in Canada and two farms of 5000 acre each in Australia.
Interestingly, the person who played a key role in preparing the “charge-sheet” is a former Advocate-General of Haryana, Mr Mohan Jain, at whose residence here the committee is believed to have held several meetings. Mr Jain was appointed the Advocate-General because of his role in toppling the Bansi Lal Government in 1999, which paved the way for Mr Chautala to become the Chief Minister of the state.
However, soon differences cropped up between Mr Jain and Mr Chautala, leading to the resignation of the man to whom the INLD supremo was once grateful.
During the Bansi Lal regime, Mr Jain had become a focal point for dissidents. Several unsuccessful toppling operations were launched against the Bansi Lal Government with the logistic support provided by Mr Jain. It was only in July, 1999, that the dissidents and Mr Jain succeeded in their game. It was he convinced those MLAs who had walked out of the Haryana Vikas Party to accept Mr Chautala as the Chief Minister.
The sources say the “charge-sheet” will be presented to the Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, soon, with copies to the President of India, the Prime Minister and the AICC president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, among others.
Originally Posted by jagmohan
