The Justice S. Narayan inquiry committee appointed by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in May to look into corruption charges against former chief minister Mayawati in the awarding of the 150-km Delhi-Agra Taj Expressway contract has not only given her a clean chit but also strongly recommended that the project be implemented right away. The project had been held up for some three years now.

Having accepted the report on October 12, the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government on Friday decided to give out the contract to the same company that it had then accused of being thick with Mayawati. Justice Narayan’s report even called the project a “landmark event for the industrial development of Uttar Pradesh.”

The Justice Narayan probe was the third into the expressway contract. Two earlier probes, in 2003 and 2004, were disbanded on orders from Allahabad High Court, which was hearing petitions from J P Industries (now Jaiprakash Associates Ltd), the contractor.

Within a month of coming to power in 2003, Mulayam halted construction on the 150-km long expressway and ordered an inquiry by Justice Ranganath Mishra, a retired Allahabad High Court judge, on the grounds that Mayawati had hurried through the project and committed irregularities. After the high court disbanded this, another committee, comprising former Chief Vigilance Commissioner V S Mathur and district judge L S P Singh, was constituted. This too was disbanded on court orders.

Now, the Narayan committee has rebutted all the allegations made by Mulayam. Consider the following:

• The foremost allegation was that Mayawati gave away 250 hectares of prime land in Noida to Jaiprakrash Associates in contravention of legal procedure. The Narayan Committee report says: “The lease of about 250 hectares of land was consistent with the terms and conditions in the bid documents and also the Concession Agreement.”

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