The Supreme Court today expressed its anguish with the way Noida on the outskirts of the national capital,is being tossed around by successive governments on land allotment issues. A bench headed by Justice R V Raveendran flayed the decisions of various governments led by Mulayam Singh and Mayawati while dealing with the land allotment issues. Noida is like a ball being tossed around by the governments which have changed tunes from time to time,it observed while hearing a batch of petitions relating to cancellation of allotment of land to 14 hotels in Noida which were to be built for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. Land leases given to various hospitality companies by the Mulayam Singh government for setting up 14 hotels in Noida for the 2010 Commonwealth Games were scrapped by Mayawati administration citing alleged corruption in land auction. The court also said there was so much confusion with regard to the intent of the policy of May 22,2006,which was originally in Hindi,as it had been interpreted differently by different parties due to multiple translations. Various hospitality,companies including ITC,Royal Orchid,Clarkston Hotels and others,have challenged a Allahabad High Court judgment that quashed the cancellation orders passed by Noida authorities and had referred the matter to the state government for reconsideration. ITC said grant of land to hotels at industrial rates was an incentive for setting up the hotels in the state and the same was delayed,thus adversely affecting the chances of getting all these hotels ready and functional for the games. However,the Mayawati government has submitted that the process for allotment of land to hospitality companies,including ITC and Indian Hotels Company Ltd,by the previous Mulayam Singh dispensation was illegal and the transfer of land would have caused a loss of over Rs 4,721 crore to the public exchequer. Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said he was not alleging any fraud against the hotel companies but allotments were against public interest as it would have resulted in a loss of more than Rs 4,712 crore. The state government said the commercial plots could not be given without recourse to tender process. While allotting the plots to the petitioner (ITC),there was also a violation of the Master Plan,statutory regulations of 1991 and building regulations of 2006 and various provisions of UP Industrial Area development Act 1976, the state government had stated. Alleging that the allotments were bad in law due to various illegalities,the state government said the plot was allotted to ITC at a fixed price of Rs 7,400 per sq meter when the circle rate of the area was Rs 70,000 per sq meter at the time of allotment. The policy of May 22,2006,to promote hotel business in view of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games and promote tourism,had to be given effect in its entirety and not only for the purpose of fixation of price of plots and method of allotment,the state government said. It asked the Noida authorities to refund the deposited money to the hotel companies and recommended strict disciplinary action against all the officers of Noida authorities who were responsible for allotments of 14 hotel sites in the 3,4,and 5 star categories.
