Chandigarh, Sep 9

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda Monday said his government has decided to refer the issue of CDs, allegedly containing evidence of land scams in the state, released by the opposition to the Lokayukta for investigation.

The opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had released CDs of Haryana Congress legislators and their kin in which they were allegedly shown making deals to procure change of land use (CLU) certificates from the Hooda government for a hefty consideration.

"The government has decided to refer the issue of CDs to the Haryana Lokayukta to bring out the truth before the people of the state and whosoever found guilty would not be spared," Hooda said in the assembly. He said that the state government would also make reference to the Lokayukta to ascertain if there was any transaction of money as shown in the CD. Hooda said that all the legislators, who have been named in the CD, have endorsed the decision to refer the case to the Lokayukta. However, the legislators have made it clear that they would file a criminal and defamation case in the court of law against INLD leaders, alleging that the latter had tried to tarnish their image for vested interests. Hooda said that the manner in which the opposition released the CD to the media on the first day of the assembly's monsoon session, showed that it was a pre-planned conspiracy to defame the state government.

"If they had the evidence, why they did not approach the Lokayukta," he asked, contending that the exercise was done with malafide intentions. He said that the INLD leaders released the CDs just before the report on the properties owned by the Devi Lal Trust was to be tabled in the assembly.

The legislators - Ram Kishan Fouji, Vinod Bhayaina, Naresh Selwal, Sampat Singh, Ram Niwas Ghorela, Jaleb Khan and Jarnail Singh - gave their clarification in the house and also demanded that the whole issue be investigated by any investigating agency. Referring to the issue of large number of CLUs being issued by his government being raised by a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator, Hooda said that this showed the pace of development in the state. INLD legislators, who were suspended from the assembly Friday, conducted a mock assembly outside the assembly building and demanded a probe into the land deals and CLUs done by the Hooda government.

By:IANS

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