In a setback to the Uttar Pradesh government, the Allahabad High Court on Monday stayed the arrest of four government officials, who along with 11 others were charged in the multi-crore Noida hotel land scam.

The Division Bench comprising Justices Ravindra Singh YC Gupta has directed the state government not to take any coercive action against the officials.

The next hearing in the case is on September 16. The court has granted a fortnight to the state government to file a counter-affidavit on the petition, said senior advocate Gopal Chaturvedi, appearing on behalf of the petitioners.

The state government had suspended the 15 officials on August 10 and later lodged an FIR against them for their alleged involvement in the allocation of plots in Noida for construction of five-star hotels.

According to the FIR, the government incurred a loss of Rs 4721.14 crore in the allotment.

Of the 15 officials, four— Noida chairman Rakesh Bahadur, Divisional Commissioner of Meerut Dev Dutt, the then Chief Executive Officer of Noida Sanjeev Saran and the then Chief Project Engineer LK Gupta — filed a criminal writ on August 18 in the Allahabad High Court seeking quashing of FIR and a stay on the arrest.