High Court moots CBI probe on tainted Noida CEO, chairman

Sanjeev Saran and Rakesh Bahadur had been accused of conducting irregularities. But ignoring the charges, the present government again posted them there

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday asked the state government whether a CBI inquiry should be ordered into the allegations against Noida Authority Chief Executive Officer Sanjeev Saran and Chairman Rakesh Bahadur, and whether they should be allowed to continue in their posts.

The bench of Acting Chief Justice Amitava Lala and Justice P K S Baghel fixed October 29 as the next date of hearing, after which it will hear the matter on a day-to-day basis.

The two officers had allegedly conducted certain irregularities when they were first posted in the Noida authority by the previous Samajwadi Party government before 2007. However, ignoring the charges, the present government again posted them there.

The bench was hearing a PIL filed Madhav Samaj Nirman Samiti, and the intervenor's application seeking a CBI probe filed by advocate Renu Singh.

M D Singh "Shekhar", counsel for the petitioner, said: "Our main prayer was that the two officials be removed from their current postings because they had been accused of wrongdoing while being on the same post. However, the state government has so far not given any consideration to the issue, even though the court had questioned the propriety of allowing them to continue in their capacities." However, the court had left it for the state government to reconsider the appointment, he added.

Earlier, the division bench had appointed court commissioners and asked them to submit a report on the current status of the plots that were allotted to the members of the hotel industry by the accused officers. The commissioners concerned have already submitted their reports.

The officials in question had been posted between 2005 and 2007, during which they were accused of causing loss to the exchequer to the tune of over Rs 4,000 crore by allotting plots to the hotel industry at Rs 7,400 per square metre, while they were meant to be allotted at Rs 74,000 per square metre.

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