The announcement by Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu of a detailed investigation into a controversial gated housing project in Solan comes more than three months after a probe by the Solan district Sub-Divisional Magistrate raised questions over clearances to it.

The probe found that the land for the project was indirectly sold to non-agriculturists, who do not belong to Himachal. This fell foul of a state law that restricts transfer of land to non-agriculturists.

On Tuesday, in an unusual move, officiating Himachal Chief Secretary (CS) Sanjay Gupta – who had termed the December probe findings “prima facie violative of settled law” – distanced himself from the issue, and accused predecessors Prabodh Saxena and R D Dhiman of attempting to “malign” his image. While Saxena served as CS before Gupta, Dhiman was in the post from July to December 2022.

The probe by the Solan SDM Poonam Bansal had concluded that the Chester Hills-2 and Chester Hills-4 housing project was executed through a “structured arrangement” designed to bypass restrictions under Section 118 of the Himachal Pradesh Tenancy and Land Reforms Act. Section 118 bars transfer of agricultural land to non-agriculturists in Himachal without approval of the state government.

For the Sukhu government, the row is particularly embarrassing as it had to beat a retreat over a Bill moved by it in the Assembly in December last year, seeking to amend Section 118 of the Tenancy and Land Reforms Act, which sought to ease restrictions on land acquisition for business, industry, real estate and cooperative ventures. Following protests by the Opposition and activists, the government had sent the Bill to a select committee .

The Chester Hills private housing project was registered with the Himachal Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in 2019. Extensions of the project, dubbed Chester Hills-2 and Chester Hills-4, were approved in 2023. Shrikant Baldi, who was CS from 2019 to 2023, was the RERA chairman when both the clearances were given.

Under Chester Hills-2 and Chester Hills-4, 228 flats, costing Rs 50 lakh-Rs 90 lakh, are to be built at Ber Khas in Solan district.

Land for the construction was purchased by Hans Raj Thakur, an agriculturist from Mandi, listed as the project’s promoter.

On August 20, 2025, Rajiv Shandil of Solan, who has land near the Chester Hills project, and later an Association of Allottees of the housing project, complained to SDM Bansal that Thakur had actually transferred the land to Aditya Singla and Arpit Kumar Garg, promoters of M/s Chester Hills. The probe found that Singla and Garg are sons of Sudershan Kumar Singla and Megh Raj Garg, who are partners in NG Estate, which developed the apartments.

This meant that non-agriculturist promoters from outside the state were exercising control over the project, the complaint said.

In her inquiry report, Bansal upheld the complaint, saying that while the land remained in the name of Thakur, the “substantive control, development, marketing, and financial execution” were being carried out by non-agriculturist promoters through M/s Chester Hills.

She termed the arrangement a “benami and colourable device” to evade restrictions under the Tenancy & Land Reforms Act.

Her probe report also flagged the scale and financial aspects, noting that around 275 bighas were acquired within a short span and developed into housing projects valued at approximately Rs 47.09 crore. It recommended scrutiny by Enforcement and Income Tax authorities, citing a mismatch between the scale of investment and the income disclosed in tax returns.

Incidentally, the findings were based in part on another fact-finding report, by the local tehsildar, which said that while Thakur was the recorded landowner of the area, there was no evidence that the two partners of M/s Chester Hills were agriculturists like him.

Thakur and other stakeholders in the project approached officiating CS (Revenue) Gupta in November 2025 for relief. Subsequently, Gupta ruled on December 6 that the SDM’s inquiry report appeared to overlook “the intent of the law”, which was to protect agriculturists, as cancellation of the project would in fact harm their interests. Gupta also noted that the land purchases were financed through institutional loans.

The complainants later withdrew their appeals. Shandil told The Indian Express, “I had moved a complaint due to some issues, but our issues have been sorted. Now there is a compromise between me and Chester Hills.”

SDM Bansal declined to comment, saying: “Everything is now with the office of the Deputy Commissioner.”

Deputy Commissioner, Solan, Manmohan Sharma, didn’t reply to repeated messages and calls.

CS Gupta told The Indian Express, “The affected people filed a representation to me. Whatever I observed, I forwarded to the office of the Solan Deputy Commissioner. In this matter, only the DC has the authority to take any decision. We can only observe and recommend.”

On his alleged role, Gupta said, “It is in the records that when the Chester Hills project was approved, I was not in the RERA, which is the sole authority to examine all the relevant documents.”

On the complaint against the projects, Gupta said former CS Saxena and Dhiman had conspired against him. Saxena is now Chairman of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Corporation, while Dhiman holds charge of the state RERA.

CPI(M) leaders have demanded a Special Investigation Team probe into the issue while BJP MLA Satpal Singh Satti raised it in the Assembly recently.

On Wednesday, Sukhu said the government would examine the matter in detail before taking a view. “If something wrong has happened, definite action will be taken.”