Political clout a yardstick for Noida plot allotment: SC

Taking the Noida Authority to task over a land allotment scandal which saw Neera Yadav, former CEO and later Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary, being awarded a jail term for corruption, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said several persons with "political clout" benefitted from these "malicious" allotments.

Discarding a "vague" affidavit by Noida CEO Rama Raman, a bench led by G S Singhvi directed him to disclose details of persons who had been allotted the plots and the parameters followed from the time of allotment to conversion to transfer and cancellation.

"Affidavit by Rama Raman, CEO Noida, has failed to comply with direction of this court. Let him file a better affidavit, disclosing names of the allottees, the dates on which the plots were allotted, the basis of conversion of plots, position of the plots etc.," the bench said.

"The affidavit should also disclose why several plots remained unoccupied for number of years before being allotted to certain persons. It should also tell why different yardsticks were applied for different persons, some of whom entertained political clout," the bench said.

Looking at the records submitted by the Authority, the bench noticed there were several persons who had been allotted plots at different locations but they got larger plots at better places later after conversion and payment of transfer charges.

"We can see number of people, initially allotted (plots) in far-off sectors of Noida, but they finally get the plots in Sector 14 and 14-A, near the highway and, obviously, at a better place. We have noticed this in several cases and we find that almost 90 per cent of the allotments are usually malicious. Persons with political and economical clout get the lion's share," the court said, adding "Uttar Pradesh was no different".

"We want to know why several original plots remained vacant for years only for certain individuals and not for others," asked the court, as it heard a petition filed by the Noida Entrepreneurs Association, highlighting alleged illegalities in land allotment.

... contd.

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