Haryana government withdraws appeal in DLF land deal

CHANDIGARH: The Haryana government has withdrawn its appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the Punjab and Haryana high court order of cancelling allotment of 350 acres of Gurgaon land to real estate major DLF. The appeal had been filed by the previous Congress government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

DLF was the main aggrieved party in this case as it had lost a 1,700 Rs crore project and the high court had even upheld the Hooda government's land acquisition process, permitting it to re-auction the land after the deal was cancelled. And yet, it had appealed against the order.

Documents available with TOI show that the BJP government led by Manohar Lal Khattar put a request before the Supreme Court on November 28 to withdraw the petition against the high court orders which was subsequently allowed.

DLF has already appealed against the order. The apex court has ordered maintaining of status quo on the issue.

On September 3, the high court had cancelled the Haryana government's 2010 auction of prime land of Wazirabad, which DLF had bagged for Rs 1,703 crore. The orders were passed in the wake of a bunch of petitions filed by villagers of Wazirabad who had challenged the government's move to allow DLF to commercially develop the land after having acquired it for recreational use.

The land is considered prime because it lies on the Golf Course Road, which commands the highest premium in Gurgaon. It was allotted to DLF after a bid of Rs 1,703 crore at Rs 12,000 per sq m. However, the petitioners alleged that the actual cost of the land is around Rs 40,000 crore.

While cancelling the allotment, the court directed the state government to complete the process of fresh allotment through a global auction within one month.

The HC had found the procedure of allotment of land to DLF as non-transparent and unjust and unfair.