Not going to act out of vindictiveness: Khattar on land scams

Chandigarh, Oct 27: A day after his ministerial colleagues said that a probe will be ordered into alleged land scams during the previous Congress regime, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday said his govt would not act out of "vindictiveness" and that law will take its course.

Khattar also said that the announcements made by the previous regime and those which are in process of implementation, will be "reviewed" but made it clear that it does not mean that all the announcements will be discarded.

"We are not going to act out of vindictiveness, but in all the complaints, law will take its own course," Khattar told reporters after presiding over the first cabinet meeting.

His comments come a day after his ministerial colleagues Anil Vij and Capt Abhimanyu said that the new regime would order a thorough probe into the alleged land scams and not spare anyone, even if it was Robert Vadra or former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Reacting to a question whether the Robert Vadra case was on the priority list of his government, Khattar replied, "our priority is to implement our agenda..."

He, however, said that wherever any discrepancies are found, where law has been violated, in the next cabinet meeting, these issues will be taken up. When asked that before Haryana assembly elections the BJP raked up alleged land scams and talked about taking action, Khattar said, "our language has not changed. We have not taken this out of our priority. Today was our first cabinet meeting and it is not that the second meet will take place after an year".

Stating that the announcements made by the previous Congress regime will be reviewed, Khattar said, "those which will be in the interest of people of the state, these will be continued, but where any discrepancy is found these will be reviewed and stopped, wherever such a need is felt."

He said a list will be made and in next cabinet meeting, which will be held soon, a decision will be taken. The Chief Minister said that a decision has been taken to stop the appointments that are in process for recruitments in government jobs with immediate effect.

"These too will be put under review process," he said.

He further said that all the re-employments made recently by the previous Hooda government, will be re-examined.

"In some cases persons have been given re-employment letters even before their retirement, for whichever motive these had been given, these will be re-examined," the Chief Minister said.

PTI