Minister of State for Home Haren Pandya told reporters here on Thursday that the previous government had transferred the lignite quarry lease, which had been allotted to C K Raolji in 1993, to the Ahmedabad-based Akshat Granite Pvt Ltd, despite a negative opinion by the State Mines and Minerals Department.

Pandya said the lease had been granted to Raolji on the condition that the latter would have to set up a cutting-polishing unit within two years from the date of its approval. Since Raolji had failed to set up this unit, the department concerned had issued orders cancelling the lease.

But when Raolji became a minister in the RJP Government, he got the lease transferred, as a special case, to the Ahmedabad-based firm, in violation of the lease rules and conditions laid down by the department, the Home Minister said.

The BJP Government has constituted a five-member Cabinet sub-committee headed by Industries Minister Suresh Mehta to review certain controversial decisions taken by the RJP Government. Till date, the committee has reviewed about half-a-dozen such decisions and recommended that they be revoked.

Observers see the present government's sudden move to unearth the former Shankersinh Vaghela regime's ``scandals'' as a ploy to derive political mileage out of it.