Chandigarh/Gurgaon, August 6
For years Ullawas village in Gurgaon, which is at the centre of controversy involving the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT), lay relatively underdeveloped even as glass and concrete sky-scrapers began to dot its horizon and the neighbouring Sector 57 bristled with construction.

The prime location of the village, with its proximity to the Gurgaon-Faridabad highway, saw Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) include it in the master-plan for the Gurgaon-Manesar urban complex and designate it as part of sectors 58, 63, 66, 66 and 67 to be developed for both housing as well as commercial complexes. In June 2009, HUDA issued a notification to acquire around 1,417 acres in these sectors, including that of Ullawas village.

While the acquisition of land has become a contentious issue, it is the 5.01 acres involving the RGCT that has generated much heat and a volley of allegations by Opposition parties against the RGCT, Sonia Gandhi, its most prominent Trustee, and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Both INLD, led by Haryana strongman Om Prakash Chautala, and the BJP have unleashed a verbal assault against Hooda, accusing him of bending the rules to favour the Gandhi family and comparing it to the Uttar Pradesh land acquisition mess that Chief Minister Mayawati is being held responsible for.

The RGCT was established in 2002 and, according to its website, it was set up “to commemorate and take forward” the vision of India's former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for the country. The Trust, a registered non-profit institution, was set up by his wife Sonia Gandhi and their children Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Vadra, to address areas of concern that were closest to Rajiv Gandhi's heart. According to the website, the RGCT “aims to translate Rajiv Gandhi's vision into action by implementing development programmes that have sustainable impact on these areas of concern.”

Panchayat members in Ullhawas village. Tribune photos: Sayeed Ahmed

Having successfully run an eye hospital in Amethi, the RGCT decided that it would like to expand its area of operation to Haryana. The Trust homed in on panchayat land in Ullawas not far from the 450-odd houses that make up the village. So on May 9, 2008, Manoj Muttu, Managing Trustee, RGCT wrote to the then Sarpanch of Ullawas village in Gurgaon district, requesting the gram panchayat to allocate six acres to set up a “state-of-the-art” eye hospital to cater to the needs of Haryana. Muttu stated that RGCT chose Haryana because it felt the state desperately needs new eye care initiatives given the prevalence of blindness and eye diseases.”

His letter also stated that the hospital would have a 300-bed facility with a capacity to treat 3 lakh outpatients annually and perform 30,000 surgeries. It would provide 60 per cent subsidised services through camps for people who are not able to afford the charges. The total built-up area was to be 3,00,000 square feet.

The Ullawas Gram Panchayat met 18 days later on May 27 2008 and passed a resolution to allow the sale of the land at market rate to the RGCT. It then forwarded the resolution to the Deputy Commissioner, Gurgaon, for approval. However, the DC did not recommend its approval to the Haryana government, ostensibly for two reasons:

nPanchayat land could not be alienated by way of gift or sale, according to Haryana government's instructions issued on March 3, 2008. Earlier the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964, had been amended on January 3, 2008 to prevent precisely such alienation of panchayat land.

nThe land was already under lease to a private person for five years. The panchayat had leased the land on June 11, 2004 for five years for a lump sum amount of Rs 15, 200. The lease was to expire on June 10, 2009. The sale of land before the expiry of the lease period could have led to litigation.

Having failed in its first attempt to acquire the five acres to set up an eye-hospital, the RGCT apparently waited for the lease period of the land to expire which it did on June 10, 2009. On July 10, 2009, the RGCT again approached the panchayat but this time instead of offering to purchase the land, they requested that it be leased to it for the maximum permissible period of 33 years.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, a month earlier on June 2, 2009, the government had notified about 1,417 acres, including the five acre Ullawas panchayat land that the RGCT had wanted to purchase, under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act signalling its intention to acquire the land for a number of HUDA sectors. Residents still had the right to petition against such an acquisition and the process could take several years.

Seemingly unmindful of the new development to acquire the land, the Gram Panchayat of Ullawas met on 20 July 2009 to decide on the fresh request made by the Trust. In the meeting it passed a resolution by three-fourths majority to lease land measuring 40 kanals and 3 marlas (about 5 acres) to the Trust for 33 years or more. The lease would be according to the terms cleared by the government. They also added the conditions that Below Poverty Line (BPL) families of the village would get free treatment, residents would get concessional treatment and would also get priority in recruitment of Class IV jobs in the hospital.

The Gram Panchayat then forwarded the resolution to the Deputy Commissioner Gurgaon for approval. On July 31, 2009, 11 days after the panchayat resolution, Deputy Commissioner Rajendra Kataria recommended the proposal to lease out the land for 33 years with the observation that the land was uneven and not being used and, therefore, came under category III of government instructions dated 3 March 2008 issued under Rule 6 (5) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules 1964 which permitted such land to be leased. The land was described in the revenue record as "banjar-qadim" (barren land). The Deputy Commissioner recommended a lease amount of 5 per cent of the collector rates which was Rs 60 lakh per acre at that time. That came to Rs 3 lakh per acre per annum.

A curious coincidence

On August 21, 2009, the Haryana Cabinet, among other things, approved the DC’s proposals with two modifications. First, it inexplicably lowered the lease money from Rs 3 lakh per acre per annum to a nominal Rs 1, 000 per acre annually and secondly, it stated that 5 per cent of the beds shall be reserved for the nominees of the state government at a concessional rate. Officials explain that there is nothing unusual in such concessions being made to charitable organisations and claim that the government had done so in many cases.

On the same day, the government issued an order signed by Urvashi Gulati, the then financial commissioner and principal secretary, Development and Panchayat Department, stating that the lease period would be for 33 years, the lease money would be Rs 1,000 an acre annually, that the eye-hospital would be run on no-profit, no-loss basis and the Trust shall provide free medical facilities to the BPL families and concessional medical facilities to the other inhabitants of the village and 5 per cent of the beds shall be reserved for the nominees of the state government at concessional rates.

On the face of it, the then Haryana Government seemed in a rush to accord the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust sanction to build a hospital on panchayat land in Ullawas village in Gurgaon district and even obliged by lowering the lease rates to a nominal amount.

Curiously, it was in the same Cabinet meeting that the decision to dissolve the Haryana Assembly was taken almost eight months before its normal five-year term would have expired. Citing this fact, opposition leaders like the INLD's OP Chautala now accuse the government of speeding up matters to favour the RGCT. But the Haryana government denies any such link and says that the orders to permit the panchayat to lease the land was done much before the cabinet decision to dissolve the assembly and any link was purely coincidental.

It is a fact that before presenting it to his Council of Ministers on August 21, 2009, Chief Minister BS Hooda, who also held charge of the Development and Panchayat Ministry on August 13, 2009, approved the proposal to lease the land to the RGCT and further added, "the Urban Estates Department be advised to exclude the the land from acquisition." Haryana government officials say that the file was in process for a while. They claim that the decision to dissolve the Assembly on August 21, 2009, came as a surprise.

Rahul refuses the concession

In the ensuing elections, the Congress fell short of a majority by five seats in the 90-seat Assembly and had to cobble together a government supported by Independent MLAs. Hooda started his second term as chief minister on October 22, 2009. Though the Congress retained power in Haryana, it is learnt that Rahul Gandhi, one of the Trustees of the RGCT, refused to accept the concessional rate of lease and insisted on doing everything as per the existing policy of the government.

Accordingly, on November 11, 2009, the RGCT made a request to Ullawas Gram Panchayat that it did not want land at concessional rates but was willing to pay the lease money at par with the existing rates prescribed by the government.

On November 23, 2009, the Gram Panchayat passed a resolution to this effect and approached the Deputy Commissioner next day for approval to increase the lease amount equal to 5 per cent of the collector rate of the land - the prescribed rate which was Rs 3 lakh per acre. On December 14, 2009, the Haryana Cabinet approved the changed lease rates and stated that the Gram Panchayat would get Rs 15 lakhs annually which will be increased by 5 per cent after every five years.

Meanwhile, after hearing various objections from the owners of the land notified for acquisition, the government whittled down its urban development plan and finally notified on May 31, 2010, under Section 6 that only 858 acres of the 1,417 acres notified would be acquired . This included the land given on lease to the RGCT by the Panchayat as it did come under the master plan. The remaining 559 acres of land was freed from acquisition. Many of those whose land was to be acquired then approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for relief and the battle is still on.

Crossing the final hurdle

After getting permission from the Haryana Government to set up an eye-hospital on leased land in the Ullawas panchayat in Gurgaon district, the RGCT had to cross a final hurdle. To start construction of the hospital the Trust applied for change of land use (CLU) permission with the Director, Town and Country Planning, on October 20, 2010. On December 1, 2010, the government approved the CLU.

Simultaneously, the Department of Urban Estates ordered the release of the land leased to the Trust from acquisition that had been ordered by the chief minister when sanction was given to the RGCT for setting up the eye hospital in August 2009.

At a press conference, Financial Commissioner and Secretary Town and Country Planning S.S. Dhillon explained that application for the CLU permission also implies the application for release of land from acquisition because land cannot be released unless the CLU is granted. The Department of Urban Estates released the land on December 6, 2010. The same day the letter of intent was issued to the Trust. After the Trust complied with the formalities, the final CLU permission was issued on May 6, 2011.

Dhillon said the RGCT was not the only applicant to get their land released from acquisition. Fortyfive more acres were also released according to the policy of the government prevalent then. The Opposition parties though remain unconvinced and charge that the land, once notified under Section 4 and then under Section 6 , cannot be released from acquisition.

The government defends its action on the basis of a Supreme Court judgment in the Special Land Acquisition Officer, Bombay versus M/s Godrej & Boyce. The court held that "so long as possession is not taken over, the mere fact of a notification under Section 4 or declaration under Section 6 having been made does not divest the owner of his rights in respect of the land or relieve him of the duty to take care of the land and protect it against encroachments.”

The Supreme Court further stated, "Again, such a notification does not either confer on the state government any right to interfere with the ownership or other rights in the land…It is in view of this position that the owner's interests remain unaffected until possession is taken, that Section 48 gives a liberty to the state government to withdraw from the acquisition at any stage before possession is taken.”

Oppn targets Hooda

BJP activists burn an effigy of Sonia Gandhi to protest against the lease of shamlat land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust at Gurgaon

Both Chautala and senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh accuse Hooda of making a special concession to the Gandhi family by permitting panchayat land to be leased to the RGCT. The government, however, vehemently denies that any exception was made for the RGCT. Officials point out that in the past, panchayat land has been given to various Trusts run by private persons as outright gift, bringing no monetary benefits to the panchayat concerned.

They point out that during the 25-year period starting from 1980 to 2005, at least in 42 cases the panchayat land was transferred to private Trusts or government departments, mostly as gift. Only in five cases the land was sold to private entities.

Among those who were gifted the panchayat land were the Devi Lal Memorial Trust, Devi Shiksha Samiti for a women's college, Mata Harki Devi Memorial Education Society for a women's college and Devi Lal Gaushala. The Devi Lal Memorial Trust got over 25 kanals in Karwan village of Faridabad district on September 25, 2001.

The Mata Harki Devi Memorial Education Society, named after the wife of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal and mother of Chautala, who was chief minister then, was gifted over 17 kanals in Odhan village of Sirsa district on May 30, 2002. The same society received another five kanals in the same village on June 16, 2003. Again, over 9 kanals were gifted to the Society in Odhan village on December 24, 2003.

The Devi Lal Gaushala got over 20 kanals as gift from the panchayat of Kanwarpura village in Sirsa district on January 24, 2001. Over 7 kanals were earlier given to the Devi Lal Gaushala as gift by the Khajakhera village panchayat in Sirsa district on January 16, 2003. At that time the rules allowed the panchayats to gift their land to anybody, of course with the permission of the government.

After the Congress government was formed in 2005, it also gave panchayat land to various entities either as gift or on lease. But in 2008 it changed the rules. The Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Rules, 1964, were amended on January 3, 2008, to debar the panchayats from alienating the village common land by way of gift or sale. This was done to protect the panchayat property for long-term use.

However, the panchayats were allowed to give the common land on lease to four categories of entities. The rate of lease amount was also fixed for these categories. The rates varied from Re 1 per acre per annum (primarily for government departments) to an amount equal to the floor rate or market rate of the land, whichever is higher as premium plus Rs 30,000 per acre as annuity per year with an annual increase of Rs 1000.

Denying any irregularity in giving panchayat land on lease to the RGCT or its subsequent release from acquisition, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the opposition was acting like the proverbial blind man searching for a black cat in a dark room. His government is clear that, " There was no deviation from the established procedure. There was no irregularity in approving the lease for the RGCT. And there was no illegality in leasing out this land keeping in view the law and established procedure." The matter, however, is unlikely to be settled soon with the Opposition trying to make capital of it and also broadening the battle to encompass the government's land acquisition policy in the district.