The Mayawati government ordered on Monday the suspension of 16 senior officers — including four IAS officials — for their alleged involvement in a land allotment scam in Noida. The land, which was given to hoteliers without any tender process at a rate of Rs7,400 per sq mt when the prevailing market rate was a whopping Rs1,69,000 per sq mt, caused the exchequer a loss of Rs4,721.14 crore.
The land was allotted during Mulayam Singh’s chief ministership between 2006 and 2007 and was meant for hotels to be built to cater to the influx in Delhi and NCR areas during the Commonwealth Games in 2010.
The IAS officials suspended include, then Noida chairman Rakesh Bahadur, then divisional commissioner, Meerut, Devdutt (now retired), then Noida CEO Sanjeev Saran, and then additional CEO K Ravindra Nayak. PCS officer CP Singh, who was deputy CEO, has also been suspended. A criminal case will be registered against the accused.
UP chief minister Mayawati has also ordered an inquiry to find out why no action was taken against these officers.
Under the scheme, plots were identified in sector 96, 97 and 98 in Noida. In October, 2006, ads were published to set up three, four and five star hotels on 25 plots. Of the 31 applications received, 14 plots were allotted for hotels in January 2007. Two PILs were filed in the Allahabad high court against these allotments. And after taking over as CM, Mayawati ordered the cancellation of the allotments. She also ordered action against guilty officials within 15 days.
The Noida authority cancelled the allotments on August 3, 2007. However, the hoteliers filed writs in the high court, which quashed the cancellation on May 2008 and directed the government to hear the plaintiffs and issue rational orders within six weeks.
