BY ARUN AGRAWAL
What can be more crooked than conspiring to sully the reputation of a honest man as being dishonest? Worse to imply that the concerned person has been filing PILs and fighting for civil society merely to make money out of it while the truth was that crores were foregone while doing so? And that he was not a fit person to be on the drafting committee of the Jan Lokpal bill. Even evil has to have a limit!
Vikas Singh did all that and much more in the week following the triumph of the civil society against the forces of corruption. He not only tried to destroy the lifelong work of an individual but also destroy the entire movement itself, and very nearly succeeded in doing so..
It is for this reason that his conduct is being put to detailed scrutiny.
Here is the sequence of events, an expose on the so-called expose of Vikas Singh.
Judge for yourself as to whether Singh is a fraud, a saboteur and a despicable human being.
Noida Authority had been inviting applications through newspapers advertisements at periodic intervals from 08-09 onwards for farm house of 10,000 sq mt which could be used for agriculture and allied purpose.
While the Bhushans applied under the 08-09 scheme at the offer rate of 3100/sq mt, Vikas Singh applied under the 10-11 scheme at 3500/sq mt. The Bhushans were allotted farm plots in sector 165 in January 2011 (19 months after application) and Mr Singh was allotted his plot in sector 162 in March 2011 (just six months after application). Both the allotments were at identical rate of Rs 3500/sq mt.
Before and after applying Singh wrote several letters to the Noida/government stating among other things that a premium – bribe – of Rs 5.5 crores was being paid to Ms Mayawati for the allotment of plots and the plots were grossly under-priced and therefore there should be a public auction of the plots. The source of information for alleging bribes was unidentified property dealers!
While the allegations relating to bribes to Mayawati were addressed to Noida authorities, the same was not alleged in the letters addressed to the Chief Secretary etc.
It is significant to note that Vikas Singh did not file a FIR on the alleged bribes of Rs 5.5 crores per farm house plot being paid to Mayawati (whom he names in his petition in the High Court) inspite of being a responsible citizen, a lawyer and a ex-Additional Solicitor General of India
Singh also did not file a PIL in court on the loss to the exchequer calculated by him as over Rs 10000 crores by demanding that the plots should be sold by auction.
All the correspondences with Noida and government authorities were on the letter head that stated he was the ex-Additional Solicitor General of India.
Singh was allotted a plot within six months of applying while it took the Bhushans almost two years. Both got similar badly located plots at the same price though they had applied under different scheme. Singh himself states in response to my queries that the government allotted him a plot to ‘silence him’.
If Singh was conscious of the fact that he would be allotted the plot to silence him, then would it be wrong to conclude that he was blackmailing the authorities into allotting him a plot by writing those letters?
Could there be any other conclusion?
Singh alleges that that the farm house were quoting for 15 to 19 crores at the time he applied.
He, then, according to his own admission should have made a killing of 15 crores on an investment of 40 lacs (10% of application money rounded off for convenience) on the allotment of the plot. Singh should have been a very happy man.
Not even the best of the ponzi schemes have given a return of this nature! A return of forty times within a period of five months!
And yet Singh was not happy with this windfall of Rs 15 crores.. Why? Because there was no windfall!
This was obvious from the prayer in the petition that he filed in the High Court. He filed a writ petition writ (/21663/2011) dated 13/4/2011. In para 3 Singh states:
- That by means of the present writ petition the petitioners are seeking a writ of mandamus directing the respondents to disclose the basis of allotment of farm houses and if no cause is shown as to how the application of petitioners number 2, 3 and 4 could be rejected in the transparent method of selection, direct for the allotment of farm houses to respondent nos 2, 3 and 4 and also to give preference to petitioners’ choice of plots or in the alternative direct for the cancellation of all the allotments and for auction of the plots.
Singh is the first petitioner and has been allotted a plot while his friends are other petitioners and have not been allotted any plots (identical relief has been repeated in the prayer).
From the foregoing prayer it is clear that Singh’s motives were not that of a crusader but that of a petty fortune hunter. Allot him and his friends plots of their choice and everything is ok and there is no violation of any law. However if you do not fulfill the demands of Singh (that his friends too should be allotted plots and all of them should be allowed to choose the plots that they want) then and only then cancel the allotment as being arbitrary and auction the plots!
This prayer from a ex-Additional Solicitor General brings into disrepute the legal profession of which the author too is a member.
Singh’s prayer was not that of a person who had already made 15 crores on the allotment of the plot? In fact it was not even of a person who had made a few crores!
Vikas Singh’s figures of Rs 15 crores premium on the plot was a concocted one for the following reasons:
- The allegation was leveled by Singh to allege bribes and have a plot allotted.
- Plots which were advertised for Rs 3100/sq metre in 08-09 were being advertised for Rs 3500/sq metre in 10-11, that is two years later. That translates into a gain of 6% per annum in official rates whereas property rates have appreciated far more in the past two years and there would have have been a corresponding higher appreciation..
- Vikas Singh in his petition states that he apprehends that he will be allotted one of the worst plots and after being allotted the plot he states that he has been allotted one of the worst plots and that inspite of his best efforts he has not been able to locate his plot in sector 162. However in the next line he states that he has come to know that a high tension wire runs near the plot and so it is the worst possible plot available which was allotted to him. His disappointment in the plot not having a premium value in the market is obvious.
- Who will buy agricultural land for Rs 1.75 crore per acre and pay annual rent of Rs 9 lacs. Since when has agriculture become so profitable?
- If there was so much of gain to be made (forty times in five months) then the number of applicants would be 100 times more than the availability of plots. There is no dearth of crorepatis (legitimate and illegitimate) in Delhi and UP!
- That 97 of the 160 applicants had been allotted (source Business Standard 24/4/11) and others were in the process of being allotted (allotment rate of over 70%) shows that there is no scarcity premium.
There was not much mismatch between demand and supply of farm plots offered by Noida. No deal of resale has taken place.
Vikas Singh, not content with his allotment, filed the petition to get one of the well located plots having premium. Why then did Singh allege that the plots were being sold by Noida way below the market price?
At the stage of applying for the plots it was a compulsion for Singh to allege gross under-pricing of plots so that he could ensure that the plot would be allotted to “him to silence him”. Though there may be some truth in that the greasing of the palm led to allotment of better located plots but that was not what Singh had alleged.
However after the plot was allotted to Singh (without paying the alleged bribes), he discovered that there was not much premium because most of the applicants who had applied had been allotted the plot. He therefore went to court seeking a plot of his choice on payment of a premium of 10% otherwise to cancel the allotment!
However, his earlier bald allegation of Mayawati taking a bribe of Rs 5.5 crores per plot, came in handy to further his hidden agenda against the Bhushans and self glorification as a crusader against the corruption of Mayawati.
He also fancied himself as an advisor to the civil society as to what types of lawyers other than Bhushans would be appropriate to be nominated to the drafting panel.
As expected, a section of the media were ready to take the bait (for TRPs or to ingratiate themselves with the ruling party one does not know) and make Singh a hero and use him for Bhushan-bashing.
That the petition was filed by Singh for Bhushan-bashing in the media and to project himself as a champion of public interest is proven by the following:
- Statement on NDTV’s The Big Fight programme: (It was at that time that I had to take a call in life as to whether I should keep quiet or fight the corruption and hence filed the…. Filed the petition to have the allotment cancelled).
The petition was filed on 13/4/2011, one week after the drafting panel was notified.
He did not argue the case himself inspite of claiming that 15 crore of premium was on line. In fact the premium would be 45 crores if the allotment to his two co-petitioners is included.
Immediately after filing the petition Singh got busy with media in Bhushan-bashing. He did not reveal that the petition that he had filed was not a PIL. And that it was self-seeking petition for personal enrichment and enrichment of his friends.
Singh deliberately did not show a copy of his petition to the media and did not reveal that it was dismissed on 16/4/2011.
And strangely the channel out to discredit the Bhushans by giving publicity to Singh did not care to ask! Basics of journalism were ignored! Chasing TRPs without caring about credibility!
Even after a week, while debating the issue on The Big Fight on NDTV, Singh did not mention that the petition had been dismissed. He went on defaming Shanti Bhusha on the channel. Strangely the interviewer did not think it necessary to ask about the fate of the petition. Certainly the viewers deserve better.
Singh could not get a single lawyer to support his implied allegations that Bhushans compromised PILs for personal benefit or in anyway benefited by filing PILs.
Was Singh fronting for someone – the government or one of his corporate clients, one will never know? Was he paid to do the hatchet job?
Singh owes a big apology to the Bhushans and the civil society for the manner in which he tried to defame them. Mr Shanti Bhushan has set very high standards: as a member of the bar, as a law Minister, in arguing important PILs for free, in refusing cases where corruption had been alleged, in having a fixed fees for all cases, in being one of the highest income taxpayers in the profession.
His professional integrity has not been questioned even by those who have crossed swords with him. And yet Singh did precisely that. That too being a lawyer, designated as a senior and an ex-ASG!
What goes around comes around. Singh like most successful person too has a past. He has had his share of controversies. His designation as a senior lawyer by the Patna High Court was challenged by a fellow lawyer on the ground that he was not ordinarily practicing in that court, 2005(1) BLJR 788. His proximity to a Supreme Court judge who would recuse himself if Singh appeared, the Manikchand Gutka case, reason for not extending his term as ASG, his assets are some of them.
And the question in the current controversy remains: Did he misuse his designation as a senior lawyer and as ex-ASG in getting the plot allotted to himself? If so then does it constitute misconduct? The government and the court will be in a better position to answer that question!
And was he right in accusing Mayawati of taking bribes on a affidavit on hearsay when there was no significant premium on the plots?
(Disclosure: Shri Shanti Bhushan fought my PIL on Cogentrix case for seven days in the Supreme Court, did not charge a rupee in fees or expenses and his professional time was worth Rs 30 lacs. He also wrote the foreword to my book titled Reliance: The Real Natwar)
(The opinions expressed by the author and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of Canary Trap or any employee thereof)
Thank you Mr Agarwal. Your article helps me to think better , & to know the cheese from the chaffe.