Haryana defends lease,says villager’s PIL filed with ‘ulterior motives’

Submitting that the petition filed was “not in public interest”,the government stated that the decision was taken “after a resolution” was passed by the gram panchayat of Ulhawas. “Resolutions passed by the gram panchayat have neither been superseded nor been annulled or cancelled by the gram panchayat till date. The petition filed is totally misconceived and deserves to be rejected,” the reply stated.

The Haryana government has averred that while Ulhawas consists of over 2,000 people,the petition has been filed only by six villagers.

On November 17,the high court had issued notices to the Haryana government,asking it to respond to allegations of it illegally benefiting from lease and release of over 40 kanals of land in Ulhawas. The respondents were asked to respond to allegations of “gifting” prime land in Gurgaon to “oblige and placate” members of the Rajiv Gandhi Trust.

The petitioners have alleged that land was arbitrarily leased to Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust for a period of 33 years without following due procedure and despite the fact that this transaction was not to benefit the villagers.