The Haryana Government suffered a loss of Rs 434.02 crore due to its decision to lease out a 5.66-acre property to Great Indian Nautanki Company (GINC) for operating ‘Kingdom of Dreams’, an entertainment and leisure destination in Gurugram, from 2009 until the premises were sealed in 2022.According to documents accessed by The Tribune, Haryana Lokayukta Justice Hari Pal Verma (retd) has detailed how the Rs 434.02-crore scam was given a “silent burial” by serving and retired bureaucrats who either “did not perform their duties and rather colluded” with the defaulting company.In his report to the CM (sent in a sealed cover), the Lokayukta noted that two Chief Secretaries, TVSN Prasad (who retired on October 31, 2024) and Anurag Rastogi, “failed to assist” him during proceedings regarding the scam, despite being requested several times. The “matter requires to be entrusted to the CBI”, he said.Justice Verma recommended to Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini that a case be registered against erring officers who colluded with the firm and failed to recover the outstanding amount, and also recover Rs 434.02 crore from the firm.“He has passed the order. We respect it,” Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi told The Tribune.In his report, the Lokayukta held Haryana Civil Service officers Mukesh Solanki, Mukul Kumar, Manoj Khatri and Narender Yadav, all of whom had held the charge of Estate Officers in the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) in Gurugram, as “completely responsible” for the scam. The same officers were also held responsible for failure to renew the company’s bank guarantee after it lapsed in 2011.IAS officers Nitin Yadav, Praveen Kumar and PC Meena, who served at different times as Administrator, HUDA/HSVP, Gurugram, have been accused of “lack of supervision”.“It is not only HSVP officials who seem to have colluded with the lessee; rather, even the then Chief Secretary, in a very intelligent manner, had diluted the report submitted by the State Vigilance Bureau and forwarded it to the Additional Chief Secretary, Town & Country Planning Department,” the Lokayukta said in his damning remarks.Detailing the modus operandi of the scam, Justice Verma pointed out how the Additional Chief Secretary of the Town and Country Planning Department (HSVP comes under the department) undermined a potential investigator’s report by constituting a committee of “very junior officials” to give a clean chit to the indicted officers.The story goes back to 2007 when the HSVP first invited bids for leasing out its 5.66-acre property in Sector 29, Gurugram. The GINC won the bid and leased it for 15 years at Rs 36 lakh per month.The company began defaulting on rent from the start, although the first notice of default was issued in June 2011. By June 2022, the rent and interest had reached Rs 107.15 crore; a recovery notice was issued. A survey revealed that the company had encroached upon 1.34 acres of land, and a notice demanding Rs 114.15 crore was sent to the GINC for unauthorised occupation. When the company failed to respond, the lease was terminated in July 2022, and a penalty of Rs 100 crore was also imposed.It also came out that the NOC and permission to mortgage the leasehold rights for obtaining a bank loan of Rs 40 crore were granted to the GINC on March 23, 2009, and it changed hands seven to eight times in a single day, despite the agreement having no such condition.Further, the lessee had issued a cheque in July 2014 for Rs 3.92 crore to the HSVP, but it bounced. The HSVP filed a cheque-bounce case, but the matter was taken to a Lok Adalat, where a compromise was reached. Neither was money paid nor did the HSVP revive the complaint.Significantly, the Lokayukta found that the State Vigilance Bureau had, indeed, caught on to the company’s irregularities back in 2015, that too on the basis of a note received from none other than then Chief Minister ML Khattar.State Vigilance chief Prabhat Ranjan Deo submitted a report to then Chief Secretary DS Dhesi in 2017, indicting the entire HSVP committee under then Administrator TK Sharma for giving “undue advantage” to the GINC.The Lokayukta said Deo had found that the project had been conceived without any requirement or demand, and that tender conditions appeared to have been “tailor-made” for the GINC. Foreign firms were barred from applying. Moreover, nine notices were issued from 2011 to 2016 for recovery of rent, but no action was taken to cancel the lease.According to the Lokayukta, “The question does arise as to what prompted the then CA/HUDA TC Gupta, IAS, to initiate the proposal (for starting the project) dated August 29, 2007, suo motu. This indicates a pre-conceived decision… then paperwork started to reach that decision on files… the government might like to seek comments of Gupta.”The ‘Kingdom of Dreams’ is still listed as a tourist destination on the Haryana Government’s website, despite the facility having remained shut since 2022.Justice Verma retired on September 10. This was one of his last reports.’Allocate Vigilance Dept to Lokayukta’The Lokayukta recommended that the Chief Secretary be divested of charge of the Department of Vigilance and it be allocated to the Lokayukta, as in Karnataka.