The Haryana Vigilance Bureau has filed a First Information Report against the "chairman of the Haryana Urban Development Authority" and several others for irregularities in the allotment of a plot to Associate Journals Ltd, a publicly held company that once ran the National Herald newspaper. Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda was the chairman of the HUDA at the time, but the FIR does not name him directly. According to The Indian Express, Hooda has not commented on the issue, but said he will after he sees the FIR.

In December 2015, it emerged that a 3,360-square-metre plot in Sector 6, Panchkula, was allotted to AJL by Hooda against the advice of the government's counsel. The original allotment was made in 1982, but the land was reclaimed by the government in 1996 when AJL did not start construction work on it. However, it was finally allotted back to AJL with Hooda's approval in 2005, but at the 1982 rates.

The FIR states that the HUDA chairman, along with other government officials and employees of the company, colluded and the officials used undue power to push the allotment through. The upmarket Panchkula area houses many government buildings and public corporation offices.

The National Herald case

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Vice President Rahul Gandhi have been implicated in the ongoing National Herald case based on a complaint filed by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy. According to the complaint, the Congress granted an interest-free, Rs 90-crore loan to AJL. While the loan was never repaid, the Young India company, in which the Gandhis are said to have a stake, later acquired nearly all of AJL's shares and properties, the complaint alleges. In the Haryana plot allotment case, Hooda has been accused of granting the land to AJL in an effort to please the Gandhis, given that the deal took place months into his taking over as chief minister in the state.